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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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Yours Very Truly, 

GEO. HOWARD ALFORD 



"WILLIS" 

OR THE 

MODEL FARMER 

/ BY 

G. H. ALFORD, "B.S, 

Author of "TALKS TO FARMERS," "TWENTY-EIGHT 
ADDRESSES ON INDUSTRIAL SUBJECTS." ETC.. ETC. 




1 



" Without the farmer, our whole country, smiling in 
beauty and bringing forth its rich products each year, would 
soon lapse into a barren waste. Even our commerce would 
languish ; our country would soon dwindle to nothing and our 
towns and cities would cease to grow. The agricultural pop- 
ulation at least constitutes the solid foundation upon which all 
our private and public prosperity must forever rest.^'' — KING. 



AKRON. O. 

THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1900 



AA 



72806 

Library of Ctongresa 

Two Copies Received 
NOV 8 1900 

Copyright entry 

SECOND COPY. 

Delivered t© 

ORDER DIVISION, 
N OV 2o 190U 



K^ 



Copyrighted, 1900, 

BY 

GEORGE HOWARD AIvFORD 




% 




^3>'fc> 



a^^"^^ 



DEDICATED TO 

The thousands of aspiring young men in this 
country by their friend, 

The Author. 




PREFACE 

'he life of a model farmer is given in 
this little book. The life he has lived 
is a good example for young men to 
follow. 

He has set an example that should be fol- 
lowed by young men ; yet he followed the 
example set by no man. He planned out his 
own course and followed it. 

Custom told him that farmers should not be 
college graduates ; that they need not be care- 
ful in selecting a wife ; that they need not 
study their business ; that they should farm in 
the same way as their forefathers. He paid no 
attention to custom — he used common sense. 

The following pages will tell you how he 
lived and how he has succeeded. 

Reader, " Go thou and do likewise." 

(V) 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 




[he author of this pamphlet is under 
many obligations to Messrs. Parlin and 
Ovendorf, Dallas, Tex., for the illustra- 
tions given in the chapter on " His Care of 
Farm Implements," and to The DeLaval Sep- 
arator Co., New York, N. Y., for the illustrations 

given in the chapter on •' Dairying." 

(vii) 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

His Boyhood Days 11 

His Choice of a Profession 15 

His Choice of Education 22 

His College Days 28 

His Choice of a Farm 34 

His Choice of a Wife 40 

His Home 46 

His Working Policy 53 

Removing Timber 59 

Diversification 62 

Intensive-Extensive Farming 67 

His Garden 71 

His Partner 74 

A Fertile Soil 78 

The Cowpea 80 

Tillage 84 

Rotation of Crops 88 

Barnyard Manure 91 

His Buying 93 

Live Stock 97 

Dairy Cows 100 

(ix) 



X Contents 

PAGE 

Hogs 107 

Poultry Ill 

Fruit Orchard 1 14 

Sheep 118 

Dairying 122 

Insect Pests 127 

His Pasture 132 

His Feeding 135 

His Barn 142 

His Book-keeping 146 

His Care op Stock 152 

His Care of Farm Implements 156 

His Politics 166 

A Short Sermon 174 

A Word to Young Men and Young Women . . . 179 

Parting Words 183 



HIS BOYHOOD DAYS 

WILLIS, the model farmer, was born on the 22d 
of February, 1870, at the old homestead in 
Pike County, Mississippi, and remained at this 
home until seventeen years of age. 

Much good fortune has come to him since birth, 
but no greater has or ever will come to him than 
the great good fortune to be born and raised on 
the farm, — the place where physical, mental, and 
moral manhood are developed. 

Not only was it a great blessing to him to be 
born and raised on the farm, but it was a great 
blessing to his country. For a man to be in sym- 
pathy with the farming class, he must be one of 
them. Lincoln sympathized with the laboring 
class because he had split rails: Christ was not 
born in a palace but in a manger, — a carpenter's 
son. 

About a mile from the home of Willis was a log 
schoolhouse, which had two redeeming features; 
it was large and well ventilated. 

At the age of five Willis entered this school 
where he spent four months out of every twelve. 
The instructor did not possess much learning so 

(11) 



12 Honj to Live a Hcqypy Life 

a pupil soon graduated from his school. Willis 
graduated at the age of fifteen. 

However, Willis was not dependent alone upon 
the instruction received at the log schoolhouse. 
His excellent mother, who was very fond of her 
children, took great delight in teaching him. She 
realized the fact that, " A child's character and 
future are mainly shaped, for all time, before he 
has passed seven years of age." 

His mother w^anted him to be an educated man 
so she taught him to read, what to read, and how 
to read. She often read to him the words of Ba- 
con: " Reading serves for delight, for amusement, 
and for ability.'' "Reading makes a full man; 
writing an exact man; conference a ready man." 
Of David: "Read, mark, learn, and inwardly di- 
gest." Of Choate: " Happy is he who has laid up 
in his youth and holds steadfast in all fortunes, a 
genuine and passionate love of reading, the true 
balm of hurt minds, of surer and more healthful 
charms than poppy or mandragora, or all drowsy 
syrups in the world." 

She also read to him the words of Browning: 
" We generally err by reading too much, and out 
of proportion to what we think. I should be 
wiser, I am persuaded, if I had not read half so 
much ; should have stronger and exercised facul- 
ties, and should stand higher in my own apprecia- 



His Boyhood Days 13 

tion." And of Robertson: "I know what reading 
is, for I could read once and did. I read hard or 
not at all; never skimming, never turning aside to 
merely inviting books." 

His mother never let him lay aside a book until 
he had completely mastered it, — until it was his 
own, — a possession for life. She taught him to 
read the best literature and to commit to memory 
its choicest passages. The Bible, Pilgrims Prog- 
ress, Emerson's Essays on Behavior and Social 
Aims, the Classics, the lives of Webster and Wash- 
ington, and the newest works on science were dili- 
gently and profoundly studied by Willis. 

Willis at an early age believed, " That no one 
reaches the summit of honor, unless he prudently 
uses his time." So he made it a rule, "Never to 
be doing nothing." He believed that every lost 
moment is a chance for future misfortune, and 
acted accordingly. 

Willis never spent a cent unless it was abso- 
lutely necessary. He learned early in life the 
value of a dollar. He earned dollars by the sweat 
of his face. He not only considered the present 
but he looked into the future. He did not live 
alone for the present moment, but for life as a 
whole. 

He never used tobacco in any form; he let 
the bottle alone; he kept good company; he was 



14 How to Live a Happy Life 

courteous to all; he was a truthful boy; he was a 
fine looking boy; in fact, he was a model boy; he 
became a model man. 

He took great interest in everything pertaining 
to the farm. From the time he began to pick cot- 
ton and put it into his father's sack he studied 
agriculture. He was always asking his father 
questions in regard to some phase of agriculture, 
and his father took great delight in answering 
those questions. In fact, he never did anything on 
the farm without discussing the matter with Willis 
and his two other sons. He asked them for their 
opinions in regard to whether certain things should 
be done and how and when. By those means 
Willis gained valuable information. 

Each boy had a " Saturday Evening " cotton 
patch. They prepared, fertilized, and cultivated 
their patches as they pleased. The boy that made 
the most on his acre was given five dollars by his 
father. 

It is needless for me to state that each boy did 
his best. Willis won the prize four years out of 
seven. He was a model farmer when a boy, — and 
he is a model farmer now. 



HIS CHOICE OF A PROFESSION 

WILLIS studied the subject of selecting a pro- 
fession for several months. From his think- 
ing, reading, and advice received from friends he 
gathered many good ideas. He was fond of 
vi^riting compositions so he wrote the following 
essay on " The Choice of a Profession : " 

When we look about among our acquaintances 
we are astonished to see so few who have been 
really successful in life and so very few indeed 
that have reached the desired goal. Many of them 
were among the first at school, — champion debaters 
or able law students. They were all launched on 
the stream of life amid the cheers of their friends, 
but many have sunk beneath the waves. 

While thousands of men never attain success in 
life, many do succeed. Many men of ordinary 
intellect and calibre have made for themselves a 
place in history. Men who had but little educa- 
tional advantages in early life have achieved for 
themselves more than ordinary success. In fact, 
many idiots, blind, and crippled men have suc- 
ceeded in life, 

(15) 



16 How to Live a Happy Life 

Every young man is desirous of succeeding in 
life; no man wants to make a failure of life. Now 
as many men of a high order of intelligence fail, 
many men of average brain power succeed; many 
educated men fail, many ignorant succeed; many 
rich boys fail, many poor boys succeed; now what 
causes success? 

To no other cause is failure in life so frequently 
to be traced as to the failure to select a suitable 
calling. The man who desires to succeed in life 
must early select a profession. It is very im- 
portant that he should promptly determine to what 
calling he is to devote his energies. Competition 
in every pursuit is so close that a man must devote 
his whole time to one thing if he expects to suc- 
ceed. 

The first law of success in this day is to bend 
every energy in one direction. The day for 
"jack of all trades" is past. Broad culture and 
many sidedness are good things to talk about but 
the man who would succeed in this day must select 
one profession and bend all the energy of his 
hands, head, and heart in that one direction. The 
successful men in every profession are those that 
can say with Paul, " This one thing I do." 

Dryden says that no man need ever fear refusal 
from any lady if he only give his heart to getting 
her. But in order to win her he must first select 



His CJioice of a Profession 17 

only one and devote his whole heart to that one. 
The same is true of success ; a man must select 
only one calling and devote his whole time to that 
one thing. More persons fail from following too 
many pursuits than from poverty of resources. 

America is full of people that know something 
about everything, but they do not know every- 
thing about anything. They have done like the 
general that scattered his forces over the whole 
country, and they have come out like that general, 
in defeat. Not because they have no talents, but 
because ''They are not willing to be ignorant of a 
great many things in order to avoid the calamity of 
being ignorant of everything." 

An American chemist once said, " Mr. A 

laughs at me because I have but one idea. He 
talks about everything, — aims to excell in every- 
thing; but I have learned that if I ever wish to 
make a breach, I must play my guns continually 
upon one point." That man was successful. He 
became president of a great scientific institution. 
What the chemist did in order to succeed, Watt, 
Arkwright, Davy, Harvy, Jenier, Morse, Whitney, 
Puck, and the hundreds of other men did whose 
names adorn the pages of history. The road that led 
to success in days past and gone leads there now. 

A man in order to succeed in life must not only 
choose a profession, but he must choose wisely. In 



18 Hoim to Live a Haj^py Life 

order to do this it is necessary for him to study his 
aptitudes, to find out what he was designed for. 

It is true that some great men deny the doctrine 
of inborn aptitude. That a man can by hard work 
and study become whatever he wants to be; that 
every man is at birth potentially a Webster, a Lee, 
a Davis, a Washington, and all that he needs is 
the proper education to electrify the world just as 
they did. 

That idea has caused the failure of thousands. 
Many youths who might make first class black- 
smiths, salesmen, or stenographers, have the great 
misfortune to be born of parents who think it is 
more honorable for them to be lawyers or doctors. 
They are sent to college where the professors have 
the insane idea that only Greek and Latin can 
make a man. They are pitch-forked through the 
course, receive their diplomas and settle down to 
expose their ignorance. They were educated in 
the wrong business. The truth of the whole mat- 
ter is that men differ at birth in mind as well as in 
face. They are designed for a special calling. 
The individual who recognizes this fact and acts 
accordingly is the one that succeeds. The nation 
that realizes it and acts accordingly succeeds. 
The individual or nation that does not heed the 
advice of this fact suffers an ignominious defeat in 
life. 



His Choice of a Profession 19 

The Jesuits who lived in ages past succeeded in 
the education of their youth as no people since have 
done. What was the secret? The sagacity they 
showed in educating their children for the calling 
for which nature designed them. Who claims that 
such a system of education if adopted by this na- 
tion would not add strength to the Republic? 

"If you choose to represent the various parts of 
life," says Sydney Smith, " by holes in a table of 
different shapes, — some circular, some triangular, 
some square, and some oblong, — and the persons 
acting these parts by similar bits of wood, we shall 
generally find that the triangular person has got 
into the square hole, the oblong into the triangu- 
lar, while the square person has squeezed himself 
into the round hole." This is why so few people 
succeed in life. 

The Latin poet, Horace, advised authors in 
selecting subjects to write about to select some- 
thing suited to them. It is just as essential for a 
man who desires to succeed to select a profession 
suited to him. A man by self-determination can 
do much in a career not suited to him, but let a 
crisis come and he succumbs to the inevitable. He 
is defeated when defeat means his downfall. 

Many sorrows come upon men by the will of 
God and through the mistakes of their parents. 
To these sorrows they submit with comparative 



20 Hov^ to Live a Happy Life 

resignation, but how about the sorrows they bring 
upon themselves by selecting a wrong profession? 
Over the mistake they mourn all the days of their 
lives! 

I have been advised by all my friends to make 
an Honorable, an M. D., a D. D., — they have told 
me about the honor and money that wait for me if 
I will only select one of the three graces for my 
profession. But I have different views about 
making and winning wreaths of laurel ; I claim 
that it is not the profession of a man that makes 
him honored but how he succeeds in that profes- 
sion. The man who succeeds in any profession is 
honored. The man who fails in any profession is 
disgraced. Mason, the maker of shoe-blacking 
made a fortune and won a name that will never 
die. Faber, the lead pencil manufacturer, amassed 
a fortune and will live in the minds and hearts of 
the people as long as time lasts. The great bene- 
factors of the world, who have by cross fertilization 
and other means changed many poisonous plants 
into plants now used as food by human beings, 
have ceased to exist, but their names will adorn 
the pages of history forever. Those who have by 
selecting and crossbreeding produced cows that 
give thirteen gallons of milk per day, sheep that 
produce fifty-two pounds of wool at one shear- 
ing, the swift-running and trotting horses, and 



His Choice of a Prqfessioti 21 

animals of such great intelligence will always be 
revered. 

I am satisfied that I was predestined, fore- 
ordained, and elected to be a farmer. For that 
reason, if for no other, farming will be my voca- 
tion. I am thankful to Providence that I was cut 
out for a farmer. I will be a free and independent 
man as long as I live. I can vote as I please, ex- 
press my views on any subject, and my farm will 
continue to yield the same amount of produce and 
that same amount of produce will command the 
same price on the market. In fact I will have 
what the men who follow other prosessions have 
not — LIBERTY! 




HIS CHOICE OF EDUCATION 

AFTER Willis had fully decided upon farming as 
his life work, the question most prominent in 
his mind was, " Shall I attend college? " 

From his youth up he had heard it said, " any 
fool can farm," and he was far from being fully 
decided on this question of attending college. 
He consulted his father and mother in regard to 
spending four years in college. They advised 
him not to do so. They told him that only young 
men expecting to be lawyers, doctors, preachers, 
merchants, and other consumers attend college. 
He talked to his old school-teacher and other 
friends about entering college. They advised him 
not to do so as soon as he stated, " I have selected 
farming as my vocation." 

Receiving no encouragement from his living 
friends, he decided to listen to Huxley, Curtis, 
Bacon, Hamilton, Webster, and others who had long 
since gone to their reward. He wanted to know 
if they were opposed to farmers being educated. 

At the beginning of his studies, he stated the 
question, "Resolved that as I have selected farm- 
ing for my life work, it is unnecessary for me to 
(22) 



His Choice of Kdncation 23 

attend college." He begaii searching for argu- 
ments in favor of the affirmative side. He soon 
found that the arguments on the affirmative side 
were based on two propositions. First, some of 
our successful statesmen, bankers, farmers, and 
merchants have never attended college. Second, 
that some men have been sent forth with diplomas 
from colleges who have not succeeded in life. 

He read the lives of Lincoln, Tyndall, Bunjan, 
and other successful men who had not spent years 
in college. He found by reading their lives that 
they earnestly deplored the fact that they had not 
in early life obtained a liberal education. He also 
learned that these men were among the warmest 
advocates of a colleere course. 

He learned by searching for facts in regard 
to the second proposition that the college gradu- 
ates who had failed in life were men with little 
talent and but feeble ambition. 

He was now ready to begin studying the 
negative side of the question. He found that 
Huxley looked upon life as a great game, and 
claimed that the life, the fortune, and the happi- 
ness of a man depends upon his knowledge of the 
game. Learning the rules of the mighty game, 
Huxley termed education. 

He next read the great oration of George Wil- 
liam Curtis on •' The Public Duty of Educated 



24 Hov^ to Live a Haiypy Life 

Men." Because men naturally great have done 
great service in the world without advantages, does 
it follow that lack of advantages is the secret of 
success ? 

"Was Pericles a less sao-acious leader of the 

o 

State during forty years of Athenian glory be- 
cause he was thoroughly accomplished in every 
grace of learning ? Or, swiftly passing from the 
Athenian rostrum to the Boston town meeting, 
behold Samuel Adams, tribune of New England 
against Old England,— of American against 
Europe, — of liberty against despotism ! Was his 
power enfeebled, his fervor chilled, his patriotism 
relaxed by his college education ? No, no, they 
were strengthened, kindled, confirmed." These 
words spake volumes to Willis. 

I will not mention all the works that Willis 
read on this subject, but will quote a few of the 
sayings of great men. Wellington, in speaking of 
his college course, said: " There was gained the 
battle of Waterloo." Bishop Fowler said: " The 
reason why there are not more great men, is 
because we are not waked up. Our brains are 
capable of a million pounds to an inch, and we 
work them with about fifty," which is simply an- 
other way of saying that we should obtain a liberal 
education. It was a saying of his that, " educa- 
tion was an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in 



His Choice of Education 25 

adversity," and another saying that, " education 
was the best viaticum of old age." 

" It was in making education not only common 
to all, but in some sense compulsory on all, that 
the destiny of the free republic of America was 
practically settled." 

" The very spring and root of honesty and virtue 
lie in the felicity of lighting on good education." 
" 'Tis education forms the common mind: just as 
the twig is bent the tree's inclined." 

" It is only the ignorant that despise education." 
" A boy is better unborn than untaught." 
" Into what boundless life does education admit 
us. Every truth gained through it expands a 
moment of time into illimitable being — positively 
enlarges our experience and endows us with 
qualities which time cannot weaken or destroy." 

Dr. Vincent, one of the most distinguished 
educators of the century, gave the following 
points in favor of a college education: "First a 
boy gets a general survey of the field of know- 
ledge; he goes up a high mountain and looks out 
in every direction and forms a general idea of the 
vastness of the field. Second, he acquires a cer- 
tain amount of mental discipline. Third, he is 
stimulated by the rivalry and competition which 
he encounters. Fourth, the advantages of contact 
with cultured minds, the professors and lecturers 



26 How to lAve a Happy Life 

being leaders in every department of human 
thought. Fifth, it inspires a man or should, to 
study all his life, and to grow." 

He also said: " If I wanted to educate my boy 
for a blacksmith, I should first send him to 
college." 

Willis now realized the difference between the 
men who succeed in life and the men who fail. 
The men who succeed have strengthened and 
enlarged and disciplined their minds in college. 
For a college training by its thorough discipline 
sharpens the mind, makes its visions clearer, — and 
these qualities of mind are of great use in fighting 
the battle of life. 

Willis had now decided to enter colleofe. But 
he had not as yet decided what college to enter. 
He had not decided whether to enter a literary 
school or an industrial school. He had learned 
from his study of the subject of education that 
some people mean by it, " the acquisition of knowl- 
edge," others, " the development of faculty." 

Willis desired to enter a college where he 
could not only develop his mind but also acquire 
useful knowledge in regard to farming. He 
believed in the mind being trained by acquiring 
useful knowledge. He believed that he could 
develop his mind as fast by studying agriculture 
as he could by studying Greek. He knew that a 



His Choice of Education 27 

knowledge of Greek would not be of any direct 
benefit to him in life. But he realized the fact 
that the time had come when the farmer should 
improve his condition, and move onward and 
upward into a higher and grander sphere of life. 
He knew that this condition must be brought 
about by the farmer being taught wisdom and 
understanding concerning farming. 

After due study of the subject, Willis decided 
to enter the Agricultural and Mechanical College 
of Mississippi, in September, 1887. 







HIS COLLEGE DAYS 

ON THE 13th of September, 1887, Willis bade 
his parents, brothers, and sisters good-bye and 
left for Starkville, Mississippi, where he entered 
college. 

When he arrived at the college he was soon 
initiated by the boys and received into full fellow- 
ship with them. He was then entitled to all the 
the privileges of a " Prep." 

On the morning of the 16th the large bell in the 
steeple rang long and loud. The old students 
knew what it meant. Willis did not understand 
the language it used, but on inquiring was 
informed that for nine months " General Lee's 
boys," must pore over tedious text-books. He 
joined a crowd of boys and was soon in the 
chapel. That venerable man. General S. D. Lee, 
made an excellent talk to the boys. He told them 
w^hy Mississippi appropriated thousands of dollars 
per year to maintain the Mississippi Agricultural 
and Mechanical College. He told them why their 
parents had sent them to college. He said, "no 
lazy boy will be permitted to remain at this 
college." 
(28) 



His College Days 29 

Entrance examinations were held that clay. All 
except two or three of the new boys tried the 
examination for Freshman class. Only seventy, 
out of the two hundred and five that tried, passed 
a satisfactory examination. Willis was one of the 
seventy. 

That niMit while Willis and his roommate were 
sittingf in their room discussinP" the trials of a new 
boy at college, three boys entered, and, after pass- 
ing some pleasant words, invited them to be present 
at the opening meeting of the Philotechnic Liter- 
ary Society. Neither Willis nor his roommate had 
ever had the privilege of attending the meetings 
of a literary society. They knew nothing of the 
advantages of such an organization. However 
they decided to attend the meeting on this occa- 
sion. Although another literary society at the 
college held its meeting on the same evening the 
large hall of the Philotechnic society was filled to 
overflowinof. 

The program consisted of two declamations, an 
oration, a debate, and a talk by the president. 
The declamations were delivered in a faultless 
style. The debaters showed the advantages to be 
derived from a debating society. Each of the 
debaters divided and sub-divided the question in 
argument with masterly discrimination. They 
stripped off the husk of irrelevancies, all manner 



30 Hoio to Live a Hwppy Life 

of disguises, and showed in the clearest light what 
the proposition in question was and what it was 
not. Every sentence spoken by them was a state- 
ment not made but born of that neccessity which 
the logic of the subject required. Each debater 
explained and exposed the utter worthlessness of a 
large part of his opponent's argument. When the 
end of this destructive process was reached the 
debater stopped short. 

The president made an excellent speech on 
" The Benefits of Debating Societies." He con- 
sidered the benefits of debating societies under 
four heads: 

1. " They are the best schools for logical 
disputations." 

2. " They furnish the best opportunities for 
the practice of oratory." 

3. " They are the means of acquiring a great 
variety of useful knowledge." 

4. " They familiarize us with parliamentary 

111 
aws. 

The central thought on the first part was, 

" Logical disputations rests upon the basis of a 

science, which deals with the laws of thought, 

which like every art, derives its perfection from 

culture." On the second, " Decrees affecting" the 

interests of whole classes of people, — war or 

peace, tariff, free coinage of silver, and many 



His College Days '61 

other questions which reach down to the details of 
social and domestic life, are often suspended on 
the tongue of a deliberative orator." On the third, 
" Many a boy who never awoke under the disci- 
pline of a school or college has in debate shown 
signs of great mental ability." And on the fourth, 
" How easy is it for an able logician and an elo- 
quent speaker, who is not up on parliamentary 
law, to be turned down by one who is far inferior 
to him in every respect, except that he is a man 
familiar with parliamentary usage." 

When the president finished his speech, he said, 
" All those who desire to become members of this 
society will please come forward and take the 
oath." Willis, with about eighty other boys, be- 
came a member that evening. During the four 
years that he attended college he was never absent 
from the society meeting unless he was sick. He 
not only did what was required of him, but he 
made many speeches in the place of absent boys. 
He took part in every debate, and was soon recog- 
nized as one of the ablest debaters in the society. 

In his Junior year he was selected to meet, in 
public debate, a representative of the other society 
of the college. This debate took place during the 
commencement exercises. Willis won the medal. 

Willis had been taugfht at home to look to the 
development of his moral nature as well as to the 
development of his mind. Therefore, when Sun- 



32 HoiG to Live a Ha2jx>y Life 

day evening' came he was always in attendance at 
the meeting at the Y. M. C. A. The president 
made an appealing talk to the young men. He 
made many excellent points, but the following, 
quoted by him, especially affected Willis : " Chris- 
tianity is adapted to the highest development of 
character and life. It is adapted to man's entire 
constitution. It addresses his reason. It enlarges 
his understanding and gives activity to thought. 
It tends to the harmonious growth of all the facul- 
ties; it is so suited to human needs that it elevates 
man to the highest degree of purification, whether 
considered as to his physical, mental, or moral 
nature. ' A man industrious in his calling, if 
without the fear of God, becomes a drudge to 
worldly ends; vexed when disappointed, overjoyed 
in success.' ' Mingle but the fear of God with 
business, — it will not abate a man's industry, but 
sweeten it; if he prosper, he is thankful to God 
who gives him power to get wealth; if he miscarry, 
he is patient under the will and dispensation of the 
God he fears.'" 

From that day until he received his diploma 
Willis was never absent, except when in the hos- 
pital, from a meeting of the Y. M. C. A. During 
his college days he thought of, " A City not 
built with hands, nor hoary with the years of time; 
A City whose inhabitants no census has numbered; 
A City through whose streets rushes no tide of 



His College Days 33 

business, no nodding hearse creeps slowly with its 
burden to the tomb; A City without griefs or 
graves, without sins or sorrows, without births or 
burials, without marriages or mournings; A City 
which glories in having Jesus for its King, angels 
for its guards, saints for citizens; whose walls are 
salvation, and whose gates are praise," as well as 
the sin-cursed earth. 

Willis never wasted a minute of time. He was 
a hard student. And, as might be expected, he 
stood at or near the head of his class until he grad- 
uated. 

He was especially interested in the subject of 
agriculture. He not only completed the agricul- 
tural course of the college in a most creditable 
manner, but also read nearly everything emanat- 
ing from the experiment stations and the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, as well as most of the 
standard books on agriculture. 

He worked in the farming department ninety 
hours per month during each session. He also 
remained at the college during the three months of 
vacation and worked on the farm. He did all 
kinds of farm work, he also worked in the green- 
houses, flower gardens, orchards, vegetable fields, 
and in the fruit and vegetable packing houses. 
When he received his diploma he was a practical 
as well as a scientific farmer, 
3 



HIS CHOICE OF A FARM 



WHILE at college Willis became well 
acquainted with the farming interests of the 
different States in the Union. He learned what 
farm products were produced in each State and the 
climate of the different sections of the country. 
Every man should be well informed on tkis sub- 
ject before he invests in land. As soon as Willis 
received his diploma he began to look for a farm. 
He wanted a farm in a good section of the 
country. He did not care whether it was in the 
North, East, South or West. He first considered 
the climate. He compared the monthly and 
average temperature; the amount of daily temper- 
ature oscillation; the average and absolute 
monthly and annual temperature extremes; the 
average and extreme dates when ice forms in the 
spring and fall; the number of days free from ice, 
and the average variability of the daily temper- 
ature for each month in the year. He compared 
the average amount of precipitation; and the 
average intensity of the rainfall. He also com- 
pared the average velocity of the wind for each 
(34) 



His Choice of a Farm 35 

month and for each year, — and the average num- 
ber of times the wind blew from each of the eight 
points on the compass. He made the comparisons 
between every State in the Union. After taking 
every point into consideration, he found the 
climate of Mississippi to be fully as good as the 
climate of any other State in the Union. This was 
a bio- point in favor of Mississippi, so he decided to 
compare Mississippi with the other States on every 
point that should be taken into consideration by a 
farmer. 

He learned from a careful study of the farm 
products of each State that Mississippi produced 
every product found on the list of products of the 
United States. The corn and wheat of the North, 
the tobacco of Virginia, the rice and sugar cane of 
Louisiana, the vegetables of Florida, and the grass 
of every section of the country. Diversification 
can be practiced in Mississippi. 

He found the death rate to be larger in thirty- 
three states than in Mississippi. He knew that 
the neofroes were the cause of that State not hav- 

C5 

ing the lowest death rate. 

He took special interest in the schools, the 
churches, and the laws of the different States. 
Mississippi stood near the bottom of the public 
school list ; but it was being reconstructed by 
one of the greatest educators in the country — 



36 How to Live a Happy Life 

J. R. Preston. Professor A. A. Kincannon took 
up the work where Professor Preston left off and 
carried it forward until the State called him to the 
highest educational position in the State. The 
work is now being- rapidly carried forward by 
Professor Whitfield. Although far behind yet, 
in a few years Mississippi will stand at the head 
of the list. 

The laws of the State did not compare favorably 
with the other States. The general laws were all 
riofht, but the laws in reo-ard to aoriculture and 
manufacturing were conspicuous by their absence. 
The State was filled with cur dogs on account of 
not havinof a doof tax; there were no laws ao-ainst 
adulterated food stuffs; no money was appropri- 
ated for farmers' institutes ; there was not a 
technical school in the State. In fact, little 
attention was paid to the industrial class after 
the election. Such is still true to a great ex- 
tent ; but with the present statesmen at the head 
of the State, the industrial classes will be looked 
after. 

Willis also compared the roads, markets, rail- 
roads, labor, and other things in Mississippi to the 
same things in other States. He graded Missis- 
sippi low in several things but the average grade 
was not exceeded by a single State. He decided 
to farm in Mississippi. 



His Choice of a Farm 87 

He soon found a neighborhood near the railroad 
with a good school and church. He lives in that 
neighborhood to-day. 

Willis wanted to buy a large, fertile plantation, 
but he was not able to do so. He did not have 
the money to pay for it and he was not willing to 
buy a large farm on credit. So he decided to get 
a small farm. 

He wanted level land. Well did he know that 
it is impossible to keep hill land from washing. 
Ditching, deep plowing, terracing, and other 
means can be used to prevent land from washing, 
but hilly land will continue to wash so long as rain 
falls. The land that he bought is just sloping 
enough to drain well. 

The farm that he bought had been thrown away 
for years. About ninety acres of it were worn out 
before the Civil War. No farmer had attempted to 
make a crop on it since the war. The farmers 
acquainted with it said that it would not grow cow- 
peas. 

The soil is a dark, sandy loam. The subsoil is a 
deep red clay. The growth on the land is mostly 
long-leaf yellow pine. A few hickories, post-oaks, 
and red-oaks are to be found on it. 

Willis examined the soil for two or three feet 
deep on every part of the farm before he decided 
to buy it. Most of the top soil had been removed 



38 IIoiD to Live a Hapjyy Life 

from tlie old field part of the farm, but a good 
subsoil remained to build on. He found the pro- 
portion of sand and clay to be about right. The 
physical condition of the soil was excellent. 

He sent a sample of the soil, together with sam- 
ples obtained from several other farms in the same 
nei2|"hborhood, to the State chemist to be analyzed. 
In a few weeks he received an analysis sheet giv- 
ing the per cent, of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and 
potash in the different soils. He was agreeably 
surprised. 

The soil taken from the old field was richer than 
the average of the other samples sent. The land 
had been covered with broom sedge, briars, and 
scrubby oaks for over twenty-five years. The 
negro had never burned it off in order to run the 
rabbits out, so nature had made the land as rich 
in the elements of plant food as it was when first 
cultivated. It had been redeemed. 

Willis decided to buy that farm if he could get 
it at a bargain. He talked to a number of farmers 
to find out what value they placed on it. They 
told him that several farmers had left the farm to 
keep from starving to death. He learned that a 
farmer had bought it for a son, and the son refused 
to take it as a gift. No reliable tenant would go 
on the farm when it was in cultivation. It was too 
poor for the average farmer to make a living on. 



His Choice of a Farm, 39 

Just before he went to see the owner of the 
land, a friend told 'Willis not to give much more 
than the value of the timber for the land. There 
was about seventy acres of fine pine timbered land 
and ninety acres of old field with many dead pines 
from which the sap had long been fallen. 

By inquiry he found that timbered land similar 
to this was selling near sawmills for three dollars 
an acre, so the timber was worth two hundred and 
ten dollars. 

When Willis spoke to the owner of the land in 
regard to buying it. the owner seemed to be sur- 
prised, and said to Willis, " Do you expect to farm 
on the land? " When Willis answered in the 
aflBrmative he was still more surprised. He eyed 
Willis for a few moments and said: " I have been 
trying to sell the land for a number of years and 
have not succeeded. I will gladly sell it to you." 
As he said this tears came into his eyes, for he was 
a kind-hearted man and deeply sympathized with 
Willis, who was then only a boy. When Willis 
asked the price of the land, he replied by asking: 
"What are you willing to give for it? " Willis 
replied, " I am willing to give you four hundred 
and twenty dollars." The owner said, " You can 
have it." 

Willis borrowed the money from his father and 
paid for the land that is now one of the most pro- 
ductive farms in Mississippi. 



HIS CHOICE OF A WIFE 

WILLIS had a good farm as well as a large and 
comfortable home. This home was sur- 
rounded by sweet scented flowers and tall and 
friendly trees. The vines climbed up the walls of 
this house and hung their pretty blossoms about 
the lattice: the pots of beautiful flowers in the 
windows shed their fragrance about the house, and 
if love ever visited any place it must have visited 
this home. 

He had everything necessary for his existence, 
yet it was not good for him to be alone. The 
home was without beauty, the birds made no 
music because he had no Eve to see and listen 
with him. He, like Adam in the Garden of Eden, 
was sad because that home was not lighted by the 
smiles of a woman. 

The subject of matrimony troubled him. He 
could solve the hardest problems in philosophy 
and mathematics with ease, but he could not it 
seemed solve this problem. Reason told him not 
to marry. Instinct urged him to marry. He knew 
(40) 



His Choice of a Wife 41 

not which to obey. He at last decided to find out 
what others thought about marriage. 

He was handicapped at the beginning of his 
studies by not being able to find any "authorities" 
on the subject of woman and marriage. He found 
it was a subject concerning which very little is 
known or upon which few people are agreed. 
Each person married knows how his or her mar- 
riage has turned out, but that knowledge is noth- 
ing when compared to the knowledge of marriage 
generally. However, Willis gathered some good 
advice from various sources. 

Walter Scott spoke as follows: " Settle your- 
self in life while you are young and lay up, by so 
doing, a stock of domestic happiness against age 
and bodily decay. There are many good things 
in life, whatever satirists and misanthropists may 
say to the contrary; but probably the best of all, 
next to a conscience void of offense, is the great 
exercise and enjoyment of social blessings, in 
which we are happy ourselves and the cause of 
happiness to those dearest to us." 

George Eliot expressed her views in the fol- 
lowing words : " What greater thing is there 
for two human souls than to feel that they are 
joined for life, — to strengthen each other in all 
labor, to rest on each other in sorrow, to minister 
to each other in all pain, to be with each 



42 How to Live a Hajyjyy Life 

other in silent, unspeakable memories at tlie last 
parting." 

Middleton spoke in the following verse: 

"The treasures of the deep are not so precious. 
As are the concealed comforts of a man 
Lock'd up in woman's love. 
I scent the air 

Of blessing, when I come but near the house. 
What a delicious breath marriage sends forth — 
The violet beds not sweeter." 

Willis did not read many such quotations 
before he fully decided to marry. He must now 
select and win the love of a woman. He had 
always been noted for his common sense and to 
the surprise of his friends he did not, as most 
young people do, lay it aside in selecting a wife. 
He knew that selecting should be done first and 
love-making afterw^ards. But how can a man 
select unless he knows what he wants? 

Having decided what kind of wife he wanted or 
needed, he made a list of all the ladies that he 
considered at all suitable for wives. He then 
began making a careful study of each lady on his 
list. He found out whether there had been any 
idiots, any blind, any consumptives, any with heart 
disease, or any other hereditary diseases among 
their ancestors. He also found out w^hether there 
had been any murderers, drunkards, infidels, dis- 
honest men, and short-lived men among their 



His Choice of a Wife 43 

ancestry. In fact, he found out all he could 
about each lady's pedigree. He realized the fact 
that God visits the iniquity of the parents on the 
children unto the third and fourth generation. 

He was now ready to begin studying their liv- 
ing relatives. His field of study in this case was 
not very broad. He cared only to know the char- 
acter of the parents, brothers, and sisters. He was 
soon fairly well-informed on this point. He was now 
ready to study each lady. He considered their 
forms first. He gave the best grades to the ladies 
who had every part of the body well developed. 
He made special note of the ladies who had well-de- 
veloped breasts, good sized waists, and large hips. 

He took note of the condition of their eyes and 
the soundness of their teeth. Well did he know 
that weak eyes and decayed teeth are signs of a 
weak constitution. 

He left no stone unturned in his study of the 
health of these ladies. He had learned early in 
life that beauty depends largely upon good health. 
Ladies, by the use of lotions, paddings, nostrums, 
and such things, delude and disappoint many 
young men, but Willis was not to be deceived. 
The clear, ruddy complexion, the bright eye, the 
active movement, and the flow of spirits had more 
effect upon him than the so-called beauty obtained 
by recourse to artificial means. 



44 How to Live a Happy Life 

He studied their minds next. He obtained by 
talking with them their views on woman's rights, 
religion, economy, industry, worrying, dress, and 
other subjects of importance. 

He inquired about education. In this he was 
very much interested. He wanted an " all around " 
girl for a wife. He wanted one that could cook, 
sew, sing, talk science and philosophy, make music 
at the piano, make such tea that every friend 
would love to take tea at their house, play the 
hostess as though she had never read Homer or 
worked out an astronomical problem. 

He believed in a girl being educated so that she 
can earn an honorable and independent living in 
case of an emergency, but he also believed that 
her education should prepare her for the duties of 
a wife and mother. He treated with scorn the fal- 
lacy that a woman cannot be well read, possess a 
broad culture and a well-disciplined mind, and at 
the same time be a good housewife. 

Willis could not endure the thought of marry- 
ing a girl weak in intellect. He valued physical 
beauty, riches, and good kinsfolk, but he valued 
intellect more than all these. He realized that the 
successful men in life have wives who co-operate 
with them, and he wanted a wife who would co- 
operate with him. He found her as easily as a 
King's son finds a King's daughter. 



His Choice of a Wife 45 

In the selection of a wife he did not forget 
moral beauty. He valued physical and mental 
beauty, but he desired moral beauty more than 
either. Only Christian wives make happy homes 
and Willis knew it. He wanted his home to be 
full of love and joy; therefore, he wanted a wife 
who would kneel with him in prayer and ask God 
to bless their home and endow them with strength 
to perform their duties. 

He did not learn all about the girls by any 
means, but his knowledge was sufficient to make 
him cut his long list down to three. Only three 
seemed likely to prove themselves eflScient. 

I do not know by what means Willis won the 

love of one of those three, but I do know that he 

succeeded in winnina- the love of the one he 

o 

learned to love. 

Willis and Mary were married on December 23, 
1891. At least they were partly married, for it re- 
quires years to completely bind two hearts, how- 
ever loving they may be. 

Willis married the woman he loved. Mary 
married the man she loved. They are still falling 
in love. 




HIS HOME 

THE dictionary says that a home is the residence 
of a person. All homes are residences, but 
all residences are not homes. The residence of 
Willis is the home of Willis. And while he 
thinks much of his farm, his live stock, and his 
farm buildings, his home is the real object of his 
efforts. He thinks that everything else should be 
used as agents to build up and maintain a model 
home. 

The house that he lives in was built before he 
married. It was also built before the barn in his 
lot. He thought first of his family and himself 
and he built his house for comfort and not for 
show; to use and not to look at. 

He does not think that a man should have large 
barns and money loaned out at interest and at the 
same time live in a hut. He thinks that a farmer 
should live in a good comfortable house. So the 
first thing that he did was to build a large, com- 
fortable house. Now before studying the plan, 
(46) 



His Home 47 

furnishing, etc., of his house, let us consider the 
beautiful lawn around the house and the flowers, 
shrubbery, fruit trees, and shade trees near the 
house. All these add beauty to his lovely home. 

Many necessities are found around this house 
that are not found at the home of the average 
farmer. A woodshed joins the kitchen; it con- 
tains plenty of dry wood at all times, so Mary is 
not forced to go out into the rain or cold to get 
wood. The kitchen gallery surrounds the well. 
The water is drawn by the use of a pump. Every 
window and door has a screen to keep out the 
flies. A cask is kept at the kitchen door to pour 
the slops in. These and many other conveniences 
make it pleasant to live in such a home. 

The drainage at this house is excellent. The 
barnyard, poultry, and hog houses are not near 
the well. No slops, wash water, or any kind of 
dirty water is emptied on the ground near the 
house. The sun and air are given free access to 
every part of the building and its surroundings. 

DRAWING 

The drawing given here shows the plan of the 
first floor of the house. The plan of the upper 
floor is the same except the six rooms are all the 
same size. The upper floor is used for bed rooms. 



48 



Hoic to Live a Happy Life 



14 ft. 

Storeroom 
F. 



Back Parlor 
E. 



Parlor 
D. 



HIS HOUSE 

7 ft. 



14 ft. 



Dining-room 
C. 



Living room 
B. 



Library 
A, 



Gallery- 



Scale 12 ft. to inch. 



His Home ' 49 

Entering the broad hall which extends through 
the entire length of the house, one is impressed at 
once with that sense of homeliness and rest which 
pervades every real home. 

The first room to the right on entering the hall 
or room A, is the library. In selecting his library 
Willis did not like many people give undue im- 
portance to works of fiction. He selected the 
great books, the original books, the books con- 
taining great ideas. He tried to get books on 
every branch of human knowledge. The leading 
books on religion, agriculture, economics, history, 
biography, law science, poetry, fiction, medicine 
and many volumns of classic prose and poetry are 
to be found on the shelves in this library. The 
room itself is a model place for reading, getting 
the light from two directions, and fitted up with 
soft shades in brown. A large table with large 
chairs occupy the center of the room, while a pret- 
tily shaded lamp ready for use is placed conven- 
iently near. 

Back of the library, and also having an entrance 
from the hall, is the family sitting room, or room 
B; this room by some thinking people has often 
been called the living room and very properly too. 
Here after the day's work is done and the evening 
meal has been partaken of, the members of the 
family meet for social intercourse; where father 
4 



50 Hovi to Live a Happy Life 

talks to his children telling them stories and in 
this way getting down to their very lives which 
in the work of the day there is no time to do. In 
this room are easy chairs, mother's sewing basket, 
the boys' checkers, the girls' embroidery, father's 
daily paper, in which the news of the day is dis- 
cussed, in short, where all may meet in absolute 
freedom and recreation. There is a fireplace at 
one end of the room from which in wet or cold 
weather a bright fire burns, sending its brightness 
over the faces of the "dear home circle," and 
vying with the soft light from the large lamp on 
the center table in making the room a real haven 
of rest. 

Room C, or the dining-room, is another im- 
portant room as all the small boys in the family 
will agree. This is large, light, and furnished 
with neatness and simplicity. A large extension 
table, which can be made to accommodate quite a 
large company, and yet arranged in a way that 
only the home-folks can be seated comfortably, is 
of course the main feature of the room. Pictures 
of fruit and flowers adorn the walls while other 
adornments, such as only a womanly woman can 
give add the necessary finishing touches. 

Crossing the hall and entering the small room 
back and almost under the stairs leading to the 
floor above, is a storeroom for canned fruits which 



His Home 51 

is very necessary in a large family where a great 
deal of canned fruit is used. 

Rooms D and E are the parlors, separated by slid- 
ing doors. These rooms are tastefully furnished 
with touches here and there that give the necessary 
homeliness that through the entire house is never 
sacrificed for mere beauty or elegance. In the 
back parlor is the piano and other musical instru- 
ments. Here the family often gather and with 
mother at the piano and father with his violin there 
enjoy many pleasant hours, singing the old songs 
that are dear to every heart. If there be sorrows 
they are driven away; if there be fatigue, it is for- 
gotten; if there be worry, it is soon no more. 
The music keeps the dust of every-day life washed 
away from the soul. The spirits are kept fresh 
and elastic and ready to combat with the trials of 
daily life. The inmates are not only happy, but 
the children will not be black sheep when they 
grow up, but will be useful men and women. The 
blessed influences of that music will never be for- 
gotten, but will live in the hearts of the children 
as long as time lasts. 

In every home there is one very important room, 
the bath room, and Willis has not overlooked this 
important feature. For numerous reasons he has 
put it on the second floor and directly over the 
storeroom. In the kitchen a small iron tank is 



52 HoiL^ to Live a Happy Life 

connected with the stove by an iron pipe and then 
by another pipe to the second floor. By this 
warm water is secured which is essential, and every 
member of the family recognizes the fact, "That 
cleanliness is next to Godliness." 

From what has been said it will be seen that 
Willis is a model farmer and his wife is a model 
housewife, and their home a model home. True 
there are many times when each have to forbear 
but with that deep tender love for each other and 
for their children it is easy to forbear and forgive. 
Christian love occupies the throne in this home 
and will do so until Willis and Mary are carried 
to the realms of everlasting love where they will 
sing the songs of love and rejoice forever. 




HIS WORKING POLICY 

WORK is necessary. It is honorable. But it 
can easily be carried to an excess. A man 
should not live just to work. He should get some 
pleasure out of life. It is true that only those who 
toil enjoy rest. But a man should not be a slave 
to labor. This is an age of labor-saving imple- 
ments, so no man should work from sun-up to sun- 
down from one year's end to another. A farmer 
can have a good time if he only will. 

Willis has a good time. He begins work at six 
A. M.; eats breakfast at seven a. m.; eats dinner at 
twelve M.; returns to work at two p. m.; and quits 
at seven p. m. He works in the field eight hours 
per day and two hours per day at his barns. He 
allows three hours for eating and eight hours for 
sleeping. Ten hours for work, three hours for 
eating, and eight for sleep leaves three hours 
for reading, writing, and other enjoyments. 

Willis makes good use of the three hours for 
rest. He often takes his wife out for a ride as he 
did before they were married. He keeps a horse 
that does nothing except pull his buggy. That 

(53> 



54 How to Live a Hajypy Life 

horse is always fresh and spirited and loves to go. 
It is a pleasure for Willis and Mary to ride behind 
such a horse. He farms to enjoy life. 

By far the best part of the three hours is spent 
by the family in the library. Willis desires to 
keep well posted on farming and Mary studies the 
subjects of poultry, gardening, and dairying. 
While they devote most of their time to the study 
of agriculture, they read journals and books on 
other subjects. That is they try to know every- 
thing about farming and something about every- 
thing else. 

Willis is an able writer. He is not only an able 
writer, but he can and does write articles that are 
instructive to practical farmers. His writings 
serve as a connecting link between extremely 
practical and extremely scientific writings. He 
writes a short article every week for two agricul- 
tural journals. The readers of those journals are 
greatly benefited by reading such articles. 

Many farmers claim that they cannot make a 
living without working twelve or fourteen hours a 
day. That is true. They have not removed the 
stumps and roots from their land, they cannot use 
labor-saving implements; they have no good plow 
team; their land is poor; they are busy at one sea- 
son of the year and idle at another; they are 
always behind time and are forced to take nine 



His Working PoUrn 55 

stitches instead of one. Farmers who farm in such 
a manner cannot expect to make a living by work- 
ing sixteen hours a day. They will hardly be 
able to exist. 

Willis claims that a man who has time for rest 
and recreation will do as much in ten hours as the 
average farmer does in twelve. He is right 
about it. 

A man must take a moderate gait in order to 
hold out for twelve or fourteen hours. He can 
work faster for ten hours. The men in the fac- 
tories work for about ten hours per day. Why 
cannot farmers live by working ten hours per day? 
The answer will be found in the last paragraph. 

Willis does as much work in ten hours as the 
average farmer does in twenty. His brain is an 
excellent overseer, so his efforts are well directed. 
He uses labor-saving implements. He plows two 
acres from four to six inches deep in one day ; 
the average farmer scratches one acre per day. 
He cuts five or six acres of pea vines, grass, or 
oats in one day ; the average former cuts from 
one-half to two acres per day. This is the main 
reason why he can live by working ten hours per 

day. 

His farming is diversified, therefore he is just as 
busy in January as he is in July. He does not 
work fifteen hours per day in June and three or 



56 How to Live a Happy Life 

four in January. He has profitable work to do 
every day in tlie year. So he puts in about as 
much work in a year as the average farmer. 

He does not over-crop himself. He knows that 
"a stitch in time saves nine." He never gets be- 
hind with his work so that nine stitches will be 
required. The crop is well cultivated, and the 
result is a large harvest in the fall. 

He keeps plenty of stock and good pastures for 
them to graze on; the stock require but little time 
as they receive most of their feed in the pastures. 
They harvest the grass and the hay for him. 
When the stock require feed and care he is not 
busy cultivating crops. 

I w^ill not discuss all the ways by which Willis 
economizes time, but have mentioned several to 
show how any farmer can so arrange his business 
that he need only work ten hours per day ; why 
cannot others do so? 

Every farmer should use business methods so 
that he can secure big results with little labor. 
The men who are now tilling the soil will soon be 
dead and buried. If they get any pleasure out of 
life they must do so now. It is well to work hard 
•and lay up something for a rainy day, but wo 
should enjoy life as we go along. 

He often takes a day off and goes on a pleasure 
trip. His wife and children always go with him. He 



His Working Policy 57 

knows that his wife needs the change more than 
he does and he wants his children to enjoy life. 
About once a year they take advantage of a cheap 
excursion to some place of interest. A long ride 
is enjoyed by them and much that is new is seen 
for little money. He visits his neighbors occa- 
sionally and talks farming and other things of in- 
terest with them. He says, " I never lose by it." 

He works with a vim. He does not plod along 
in such a way that but little work is done. He 
can well afford to work in a hurry for he rests 
three hours per day and in addition takes off a 
number of days during the year for recreation. 
The bow is not always bent so it does not lose its 
power. He does not neglect his work for pleasure 
but he gets it in such a shape that he can leave it 
in the care of his farm hand. 

He never leaves his farm unless his hired man 
remains at home, for his stock must be well cared 
for. 

Of course, only a few farmers can enjoy life as 
Willis does. He knows how to farm. He knows 
what branch of farming pays best and devotes 
most of his time to that branch. He uses improved 
farm implements so that he can do a great deal of 
work. His land is very productive, consequently 
he secures large yields. But I claim that what 
Jias been done by Willis can be done bv every 



58 



How to Live a Happy Life 



young man in the South. It is true that men who 
are now farming cannot attend an agricultural col- 
lege, but they can read farm papers and bulletins. 
and attend farmers' institutes. They can do much 
better than they are now doing. 





REMOVING TIMBER 

THE farm that Willis lives on was covered with 
stumps and trees when Willis bought it. 
There was on an average of twenty pine stumps 
and trees to the acre. He tried to get a farm clear 
of timber, but he could not do so. 

His father's farm was covered with timber; his 
grandfather's farm was covered with timber ; in 
fact every farmer's farm in the country was covered 
with timber. It was not the style to remove the 
pine timber from the land. Willis did not believe 
in being in style, if such is called style. He did 
not care to cultivate land full of stumps. He took 
his paper and pencil and figured out the space oc- 
cupied by the timber. He found by examination 
that each pine or stump occupied on an average of 
thirty square feet. So a space of six hundred square 
feet to the acre was taken up by the stumps and 
trees. 

(59) 



60 How to Live a Happy Life 

The actual space occupied by the timber did not 
amount to much when compared to the loss of 
time occasioned by not being able to use labor- 
saving implements. Large plows, harrows, mow- 
ing machines, hay rakes, and many other labor- 
saving implements cannot be used on timbered 
land, — but little work is done. And then it is a 
great deal more pleasant riding on a spring seat 
than in following in the furrow behind the plow. 

After considering the advantages and the cost 
of removing the timber, he decided to clear his 
land of stumps and trees. Having decided to re- 
move it, he must now decide how to do so. The 
timber was too heavy for a stump puller and explo- 
sives were very costly. He soon found the burn- 
ing process to be the best. The only trouble with 
fire was rain. 

He soon planned so that but little risk wji-3 run 
on that account. He removed the timber from the 
land in pasture. As he constantly changed his 
pasture, his farm was entirely clear of timber in a 
few years. 

He removed the dirt from around the stumps at 
any time. He cut the timber and sawed it into 
five feet blocks. Two or three of these blocks 
were placed against each stump and made ready 
for the fire to be applied when the ground dried 
out. The month of May is usually dry, so he fired 



Retnomng Timber 61 

the stumps on the first dry day in May. He and 
another man remained in the ten -acre field all day 
long for at least a week The blocks were kept 
against the stumps at all times. When one block 
burned up another was put in its place. 

At the close of one week most of the stumps 
were burned out or burned from one to two feet 
below the surface so that they would not interfere 
with the plow. During the second and third weeks 
he spent several hours per day in placing new 
timber around the burning stumps. He never let 
a stump remain in the way of the plow. 

Willis went entirely contrary to public opinion 
in removing the timber. 

Some farmers thought he had gone crazy. He 
was called a college farmer by many; the book 
farmer by others; and the fool farmer by still 
others. But he knew what he was about, and 
continued to remove from ten to twenty acres per 
year until his farm of eighty acres is now entirely 
cleared of timber, and has not cost him more than 
ten dollars per acre. 



--'•F^^i-' 




DIVERSIFICATION 

WILLIS has hanging" on the wall in his parlor a 
large frame containing the motto: "Live at 
Home." He obeys that motto. 

While he realizes the fact that cotton is and 
always will be an important money crop in the 
South, he does not plant his whole farm in cotton 
and buy rice, sugar, meat, lard, and other things 
that he can produce cheaper than the farmers 
of any other State in the Union. He produces 
everything that he needs that can be grown on 
his farm. " 

He has two acres in a garden. He knows that a 
good garden is half a living; that a home may be 
a place to sleep, but it is not a true home unless 
the inmates have plenty of vegetables to eat; that 
nothing adds more to the comfort and health of 
people than a diet composed mostly of vegetables; 
that a good garden keeps its owner from spending 
many dollars for meat and canned vegetables. 

He grows hundreds of bushels of sweet potatoes, 
Irish potatoes, peas, pindars, rice, artichokes, oats, 
(62) 



Dimrsijication 63 

rye, corn, velvet beans, vetch, and other crops. 
He makes at least one thousand gallons of Louis- 
iana syrup each year and several barrels of sugar. 
He grows hundreds of melons, and gathers barrels 
of peaches, apples, figs, plums, pears, strawberries, 
and grapes ; in fact, he grows nearly everything 
that he consumes. 

His pastures are the wonder of his State, yea of 
every State in the Union. He has green pastures 
every month in the year. No farmer in the States 
grows more or better forage to the acre than Wil- 
lis. The Bermuda is his best forage grass for 
summer; rye, oats, and vetch are his best winter 
grazing crops; and orchard grass, meadow grass, 
red clover, rescue grass, crimson clover, sorghum, 
and cowpeas also afford excellent pasture on his 
farm. 

He has produced as much as seven and a half 
tons of dry forage on one acre in one year. He 
plants turf oats and hairy vetch in November to be 
cut the first of the next June; next he plants cow- 
peas to be cut the first of August; he then plants 
sorghum to be cut the last of October. He grows 
three forage crops on the same land in one year. 
Two of the crops are soil improvers. 

Many farmers claim that they have no market 
for anything but cotton so they do not diversify 
their crops. Willis has a home market. He keeps 



04 Hovi to Live a Happy Life 

hogs, sheep, cattle, poultry, and other live stock to 
manufacture the coarse products grown on his 
farm into highly concentrated products. His hay, 
peas, pindars, corn, cotton, and other feed is con- 
verted into meat, wool, butter, mules, milch cows, 
and other products that can be sold at a good 
profit. 

Diversification enables him to cultivate and 
utilize about three times as much land as the aver- 
age farmer in Mississippi. The average farmer 
wears out about fifteen acres at a time. Willis 
manages forty acres to the farm hand in such a 
way that its productiveness is continually increas- 
ing. He does not cultivate cotton alone but he 
grows corn and peas, oats and peas, hay, and has 
good pastures. His system of farming is balanced, 
he grows everything that his farm will produce for 
home use and to sell. He cultivates several crops 
to enrich instead of wear out his land. 

Diversification makes it possible for him to prac- 
tice rotation of crops. K a farmer cultivates only 
cotton and corn, his land will soon be ruined. 
Their continuous cultivation exhausts the vege- 
table matter in the soil and this is one of the 
reasons that the soil washes as badly as it does. 
The system that Willis practices keeps plenty of 
vegetable matter in the soil and gathers tons of 
nitrogen from the air and puts it into the soil. 



Dlversijjcation 65 

The large yields of corn, peas, hay, etc., neces- 
sitate the keeping of stock on the farm. The 
stock converts the crops into concentrated human 
food. He sells the human food at a good profit. 
The manure obtained from the stock is put on the 
farm and its fertility thereby increased. The 
feed, the stock to eat the feed, the money ob- 
tained from the sale of butter, meat, wool, etc., 
and the increasing fertility of his land pay him to 
diversify his crops. 

His family fares sumptuously every day in the 
year. They have plenty of fresh vegetables, milk, 
fruit, butter, pork, beef, chickens, eggs, rice, and 
other farm products to eat. In fact, they have 
evervthing to eat that is produced on any farm in 
this country. Other professional men cannot af- 
ford to live as Willis does. The man in the city 
must spend hundreds of dollars for the food his 
family consumes and then get stale goods. Willis 
does not live to grow cotton only ; he considers 
happiness. 

He never spends a cent of money for anything 
except taxes, doctors' bills, church expenses, liter- 
ature, and car fare. He carries farm produce to 
town and exchanges it for white sugar to go in the 
the cake, flour, clothing, farm implements, and 
such things. He goes to town with a wagon full 
and returns with it nearly empty and his pocket 
5 



66 



How to Live a Happy Life 



full of money. The merchants always owe him. 
He owes no merchant for supplies. 

To sum it all up, Willis bases his business on: 
Buying takes money out of my pocket; selling 
puts money into my pocket. 





INTENSIVE - EXTENSIVE FARMING 

WILLIS had been taught from his youth up that 
other things being equal, a farmer prospers 
just in proportion to the amount of produce that his 
farm yields ; that the farmer that obtains only one- 
fifth bale of cotton per acre and other produce in 
proportion will likely always be near starvation; that 
the farmer who obtains one bale of cotton to the 
acre and other produce in proportion will very likely 
be able to buy everything that he needs. 

He believed in using the paper and pencil; so he 
did some figuring on the subject when he began 
farming. His first crop having been gathered and 
housed or sold, he took his books and figured out 
the cost of producing his cotton, corn, potatoes, 
peas, oats, and other farm crops. 

The following accounts show cost of production, 
amount of produce, value of produce, and gain or 
loss on each crop: 

Cotton 

Rent of land per acre $ 2.00 

Taxes, fences, ditching, etc 75 

(67) 



68 How to Live a Happy Life 

Cotton — Continued 

Preparation of land $ .75 

Fertilizer 2.00 

Plowing ] .50 

Seed and planting 25 

Hoeing 1.00 

Picking 2.50 

Ginning , l.OO 

Marketing 25 

Cost of producing 12.00 

Sold one-third bale ( at 9c ) $ 15.00 

Seed 4.00 

Total value , 19.00 

Gain on cotton $ 7.00 

Corn 

Rent of land $ 2.00 

Fencing, ditching, etc 75 

Preparation of land 75 

Fertilizer 2.00* 

Seed and planting 25 

Plowing 1.50 

Hoeing 50 

Gathering and housing 35 

Cost of producing 8.10 

Value of 15 bus. ( at 50c ) $7.50 

Loss on corn $ .CO 

Willis figured the cost of producing every crop 
on his farm, and the cost of his butter, eggs, poul- 
try, beef, pork, and other farm products. The 
foregoing examples will show how he did it. 

The profit of his farm taken as a whole was 17 
per cent. This was an excellent showing for his 



Intensive- Extensive Farming 69 

poor land ; but few merchants, bankers, and specu- 
lators make that profit. However, Willis was not 
satisfied. He wanted to make the Dutchman's 1 
per cent ; therefore he decided to do some more 
fiofurinfifo 

As cotton is the standard of value in the South, 
he figured on it. He knew that he could in a few 
years make his land yield on an average of one 
bale to the acre. So he figured out the cost of 
producing cotton when the yield is one bale to the 
acre: 

Rent $ 2.00 

Fencing, taxes, etc 75 

Preparation of land 75 

Fertilizer 2.00 

Seed and planting 25 

Plowing 1.50 

Hoeing 1.00 

Picking 7.50 

Ginning 3.00 

Marketing 75 

Cost of producing 19.50 

Value of one bale ( at 9c) $45.00 

Value of seed 12.00 

Value entire 57.00 

Gain on cotton $37.50 



He found the profit to be as shown nearly 200 
per cent. The profit on each acre would be |37.50 
and on twenty acres $750.00. This would be a 



70 How to Live a Happy Life 

large profit on the land in cultivation ; but the 
number of acres would be few. Consequently, the 
total amount of profit small. 

Willis had been taught to take a few acres and 
by the use of fertilizers and other means make it 
very productive. But his figures showed him that 
his income would be small if he practiced that 
system of farming. This caused him to do a great 
deal of hard thinking. 

He began practicing what he has named " inten- 
sive-extensive farming " as the result of that think- 
ing. That is he utilizes nearly three times as much 
land per hand as the average Mississippi farmer 
and manages it in such a way that its productive- 
ness is rapidly increasing. His farming is extensive 
as well as intensive. And although the price of 
cotton is now only seven cents per pound, he makes 
about 100 per cent, on eighty acres of land. 

A farmer must utilize about forty acres to make 
farming profitablec That is he must practice inten- 
sive-extensive farming in order to secure large 
yields. 

He must have sufficient land in cultivation to 
enable him to practice rotation of crops and to 
have pastures to furnish feed for stock that manure 
may be obtained to increase the fertility of the soil. 
All that Willis does. 



HIS GARDEN 

WILLIS has two acres in a garden ; it is two acres 
long and one acre wide. 

He wanted his garden to be near the house ; so he 
could not put it on an ideal garden spot. However, 
it is located in a far better place than the average 
garden. 

The soil is just sloping enough to drain well; 
ditching and tile drains are unnecessary. The phys- 
ical and chemical condition of the soil is now good, 
but such was not the case when Willis purchased 
the land. At that time it was " worn out." 

He has made the soil fertile by deep plowing, 
careful tillage, growing leguminous crops, and by 
the application of fertilizers. The compact soil was 
made loose by plowing for ten or twelve inches 
deep. Vegetable matter was plowed under to 
furnish the soil with plenty of humus. Leguminous 
plants were planted to transfer the nitrogen to the 
soil. Fertilizers were added to the soil to supply 
the elements in which it was lacking. It was once 
poor soil, but now it is rich. 

Fertile land will not yield large crops unless it 
is well cultivated. This fertile garden yields abun- 
dantly because Willis cultivates it thoroughly. The 

(71) 



72 Horn to Live a Happy Life 

soil is well prepared before the seed are planted ; 
and the soil is kept fine and mellow among the 
plants. The soil is well stirred every day during 
the early growth of the plants, because the more 
frequently it is stirred the more moisture it will 
absorb from the air, and the more air will be ad- 
mitted to the rootlets of the growling plants. It is 
well stirred after each rain as soon as the soil is suf- 
ficiently dry to prevent incrustation. There are no 
lumps or clods in this garden soil. 

Willis has no hot-bed ; he has only one good-sized 
cold frame. It is twenty feet long and eight feet 
wide. On the back side two planks one foot wide 
and one-half inch thick are nailed to corner posts 
driven in the ground. On the front side only one 
plank is nailed to the posts. The ends are planked 
up with the same kind of plank, and the frame is 
covered with cotton cloth. 

The soil in the frame is exceedingly fertile. It 
is elevated about six inches above the surrounding 
soil, and is well pulverized and drained. 

The seed are sown from one-fourth of an inch to 
one inch deep in drills three or four inches apart 
across the bed. If the soil is dry it is well watered 
as soon as the seed are planted. 

The cloth is used only as a means of protection 
against cold weather ; it is rolled back when not 
needed to protect the plants. 



His Garden 73 

When the danger of frost is past Willis prepares 
his garden soil thoroughly, and transfers the plants 
from the cold frame to the gfarden. He removes a 
portion of the leaves from each plant, plants it to 
the depth it was in the cold frame and presses the 
earth uniformly around it. 

His garden never suffers for water. He has a 
large tank near his barn that holds seventy thou- 
sand gallons. A hose two hundred feet long is at- 
tached to this tank with which the o-arden can be 
well watered when the vegfetables need it. The 
tank was built by Willis in two days. The lumber 
and tar cost five dollars. 

Willis does not sell many vegetables. What he 
does sell are sold in the home market ; he never 
ships vegetables. He grows vegetables for his own 
use and sells only the surplus. He says he can 
make more money on other farm products. 

I have not the space to discuss at length his gar- 
dening. He follows the examples of other success- 
ful gardeners. He is not a specialist in gardening, 
but he has asparagus, beans, beets, cabbage, cauli- 
flower, cucumbers, Qg^ plants, kale, lettuce, onions, 
peas, potatoes, radish, squash, tomatoes, and straw- 
berries on his table in their season. 

He eats to live, and lives to eat. 




HIS PARTNER 

WILLIS is not alone in business. He has an ex- 
cellent partner. He obtained his partner by 
marriage; so the firm will not be dissolved until 
death calls one of the members home. 

The members of that firm are equal partners. 
Neither one rules over the other. The w^ife is a 
partner and not a slave. The lord and masterspirit 
is not in Willis. He loves his w^ife. Mary is a sen- 
sible woman and does not try to " wear the breeches." 
She knows that a woman should not try to rule over 
her husband. 

They adopted the following platform before they 
married : 

1. The husband should plow, sow, reap, and attend 
to the bulk of the business. The wife should keep the 
house. 

2. The husband should always consult his wife about 
his part of the business. The wife should always con- 
sult her husband about her part of the business. 

3. Whatever the husband and wife make should 
belong to both. Neither one should be forced to ask 
the other for money. 

(74) 



His Partner 75 

4. The work of the wife is just as important as that 
of the husband and should be so recognized. 

5. The wife is the equal partner of the husband and 
the husband should treat her as his equal in every 
respect. 

6. The husband should do all in his power to make 
money to buy what is needed in the home. The wife 
should always make the home pleasant so that her hus- 
band will be stronger to battle with the world. 



Now let us discuss briefly the above platform. 
The husband should run the farm, — the wife the 
house. The husband should be acknowledgfed as 
authority in regard to farm matters ; the wife in re- 
gard to household affairs. Man and woman were 
intended to be helpmates for each other. There 
should be a division of labor between man and wife. 
By this division each will be benefited. 

The old saying that " two heads are better than 
one if one is a sheep's head," is true. The man 
knows more about farm matters than the wife ; and 
the wife knows more about household affairs than 
the man ; but each is competent to give the other 
advice. So man and wife should always consult 
each other on matters of importance. 

The husband should not give the wife so much 
money to do as she pleases with or so much a month. 
She is not a hireling, — but his affectionate wife, 
— his loving, equal partner. Neither should the 



76 How to Live a Hu^ypy Life 

wife have the pocketbook in her care and keeping 
all the time and make the husband ask for every 
cent he spends. The money that they make belongs 
to one as much as it does to the other. They both 
make the money. They both should spend the money. 
It is true that the work done by the wife does not 
usually bring in as much cash money as that done 
by the husband, but the wife's work is as important, 
or even more so than the husband's. The husband's 
work may bring in the value of three or four dol- 
lars a day ; and the wife's only one dollar a day ; 
but the wife cooks three meals for the husband and 
children and makes the house a happy home for 
them. She makes it possible for the husband and 
children to sing " There is no place like home." 
She briMitens the home with the sunshine of love. 

o 

She moulds the character of the children in that 
home. The future destiny of the children and of 
the Nation depends upon the work of the wife. 

The man is recognized as the head of the family, 
but he is not the enslaver of the family. The wife 
is his equal and he should recognize her as such. 
They were created equal and intended to help each 
other, not to lord over each other. 

The husband promised before witnesses to love 
and support his wife ; so he has no right to be in- 
dolent. He must work and support his family. 
And he should not spend what they make for 



His Partner 



Ti 



tobacco, whisky, or anything else that is unneces- 
sary. The wife should help her husband to make 
a living, she was not made for simply an ornament. 
She should make life pleasant for the inmates of 
the house. 

To sum it all up, — the husband and wife should 
try to make each other's life long and happy. 

Willis and Mary re-adopt the above platform 
every year. They obey it. They are happy. 




A FERTILE SOIL 

A FERTILE soil IS the foundation of success in 
farming. The farmer depends on what his 
soil produces for bread, butter, and clothing. If 
the soil does not yield bountiful harvests, he will 
suffer for the necessities of life. If it yields abun- 
dant harvests, he will have money to buy everything 
that he needs. 

The farmer cannot change the condition of the 
air, neither can he change the seasons, but he can 
make a productive out of a non-productive soil. 
He can change the texture and chemical composi- 
tion of the soil that yields only one -third of a bale 
of cotton to the acre until it produces one whole 
bale. He can enrich his land so that it will pro- 
duce seventy-five instead of fifteen bushels of corn 
to the acre. He can make his farm fertile so that 
he will make money on every acre instead of losing 
money. 

No man considers a fertile soil of more conse- 
quence in farming than Willis. His well-fed soil 
is the best testimony to the fact. He does not 
starve it and at the same time expect it to feed his 
(78) 



A Fertile Soil 



79 



farm animals. He knows that he has no right to 
rob the soil that God has entrusted to his care. So 
he is not robbing it but adding to its store of fer- 
tility. 

In the following chapters on Tillage, Rotation of 
Crops, the Cowpea, Barnyard Manure and Com- 
mercial Fertilizers, I will tell how Willis has in- 
creased the fertility of his soil. 





THE COWPEA 



WILLIS is called a " cowpea crank ; " but he is 
not called so justly. He plants peas in his 
corn and cotton, and follows his oats by peas but 
he is no crank. I will discuss briefly the benefits 
of peas and I think I can show that the farmer who 
does not agree with Willis is a crank. 

There must be fourteen elements of plant food 
present in the soil in a soluble condition before 
plants will grow in the soil. Eleven of these ele- 
ments are present in sufficient quantities in nearly 
all soils. The soil that Willis cultivates is deficient 
in only three of the fourteen elements. These are 
nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. 

Now nitrogen costs about twelve cents, potash 
four cents, and phosphoric acid four cents per pound 
when bought in commercial fertilizers. So we see 
that nitrogen costs about three times as much per 
pound as phosphoric acid per pound. And as it 
costs so much every farmer should know how to ob- 
tain it free of expense. He can do so by planting 
cowpeas. 
(80) 



The Coinpea 81 

We have about two hundred species of legumi- 
nous or soil enriching plants, but in Mississippi the 
cowpea surpasses them all in producing a maxi- 
mum crop in a minimum time. Alfalfa clover, lu- 
pine, and other leguminous plants, are grov^n in the 
different States in the Union in order to increase 
the fertility of the land, but in Mississippi a farmer 
needs none of those plants to occupy his land the 
entire year. He can grow two crops of cowpeas, 
the grow^th of each crop being enormous on good 
land. 

Ever since the pea has been cultivated it has 
been recognized as a land improver; but how it im- 
proved land was not known until a few years ago. 
The chemist taught that the pea was very rich in 
nitrogen but while it took more nitrogen from the 
soil than other plants he could not account for its 
leavinof more nitrof^en in the soil. 

The chemist failed to solve the problem and the 
biologist, a man who deserves as much praise at the 
farmer's hand as the chemist, took the matter in 
hand and by using his microscope, made one of the 
most important discoveries of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. He found on the roots of peas millions of 
bacteria, — a form of organized life. These bac- 
teria wound the roots of the peas and cause a sap 
to exude like the gum on a peach tree. No one 
knows just how this is done, but it is known that 
6 



82 How to Live a Hajypy Life 

these busy little friends of the farmer build their 
homes on the roots of the pea and in these little 
houses that they construct they spend their lives, 
obtaining the necessary mineral matters for their 
existence from the pea roots, and nitrogen from the 
air. These bacteria work night and day during 
their existence to enrich the farmer and when they 
have lived their allotted time die leaving their 
homes to enrich the farmer's land. 

These little organisms delight in benefiting the 
farmer and will transfer as much nitrofifen from the 
air to the soil as will be required to produce as 
large a crop as can stand upon it if they have the 
cowpea to live on. They only demand that the 
soil be in a well-drained, porous condition and that 
the peas be planted in it. 

I have spoken of the pea as being beneficial to 
the soil on account of gathering nitrogen from the 
air, but I have not mentioned the good it does by 
sending its roots deep down into the earth and 
bringing up potash and phosphoric acid and depos- 
iting them near the surface. This is very important 
as most crops root very shallow and soon exhaust 
the plant food in reach, or that near the surface. 
The pea pumps up mineral matter from the soil, or 
rather the subsoil. 

An average acre of peas will gather as much 
nitrogen from the air as is furnished by ten dollars 



The Coicpea 83 

worth of cotton seed meal. The farmer who plants 
peas in rotation will not need to use cotton seed 
meal or any other nitrogenous fertilizer. 

Willis is a sensible man. He does not believe in 
wasting hard-earned money. He does not buy nitro- 
gen when he can get it for less than nothing from the 
air. He does not care who calls him a crank if by 
a crank they mean a man who has sense enough not 
to burn money. He plants peas and by so doing 
enriches his land and fills his pocket-book with 
money. 





TILLAGE 

IN ORDER to make one understand why Willis 
cultivates his land as he does it is necessary to 
make several explanations. 

The soil is composed of very small grains. 

These grains are arranged among themselves so 
as to form minute capillary tubes. 

These tubes connect the bottom layers of the 
soil with the top layers. 

The water in the soil passes up through these 
tubes to the surface where it is evaporated. 

Plants take up food in solution only. 

Every grain of soil is surrounded by a small 
film of water. 

This thin film of water disolves the plant food in 
that grain of soil. 

A root hair must come in contact with that film 
of water around the grain of soil before it can ob- 
tain the plant food in that grain. 

Many farmers spend thousands of dollars for fer- 
tilizers when ijfood tilhiire is all that is needed. 
(84) 



Tillage 85 

But as Willis is not a man to waste money he cul- 
tivates his land properly. 

When he bought the land the soil was "thin"' 
but he deepened it by plowing- deeper each time. 
He turned very little of the subsoil out on the sur- 
face when he plowed in the spring; but when he 
plowed in the fall he turned out a large amount. 

The tools used by Willis are fine and simple. 
They consist of two twelve-inch steel plows, one six- 
foot roller, one eight-foot steel harrow, two straight- 
teeth steel cultivators, and one subsoil plow. 

He does not plow all his land alike, for different 
land requires different treatment. 

He breaks all of his stiff and compact soil in the 
fall for the following reasons: 

1 . He is not as busy in the fall as he is in the spring. 

2. The grass, trash, etc, is turned under to decay. 

3. Insoluble plant food is brought to the surface 
where the frost and air can change it to soluble plant 
food. 

4. Housed insects by being turned out on the 
ground are frozen. 

5. The soil is rough and loose so that it will drink 
in the rain that falls. 

He plows all of his land that has a clay founda- 
tion deep: 

1. To loosen the subsoil so that the plant roots can 
go down deep after food and water. 



86 Hov!) to Line a Happy Life 

2. To increase the water-holding capacity of the 
soil. 

3. To permit the air to circulate in the subsoil. 

4. To let the water escape from the surface without 
running over the ground and washing it off. 

5. To secure crops against drought by enabling the 
roots to go down to perpetual moisture. 

The land that he does not break in the fall is 
broken in the early spring: 

1. To save water. It has been found by experi- 
ments that unbroken land will lose about two inches 
more water than broken land. 

2. To prevent clods. 

He uses the roller: 

1. To break clods. 

2. To make loose soil compact. 

3. To make the soil firm around freshly planted 
seed. 

He uses the harrow: 

1. To pulverize the soil. 

2. To remove the trash from near the surface. 

3. To smooth surface inequalities. 

4. To bury seed. 

5. To stir the ground just before the seed comes up. 

He uses his subsoil plow on all of the land that 
has a compact clay soil. That is he uses it every 
two or three years. He runs the subsoil plow 



Tillage 87 

just behind the turning plow. It does not throw 
the clay out on the surface, it only loosens it up. 

Willis never uses the plow, roller, or any other 
farm implement when the soil is wet. 

He follows the roller when possible with the 
steel harrow. The roller causes the water to rise 
to the surface and evaporate. The harrow forms a 
mulch and prevents the water from escaping. 

Every farmer should follow the example set by 
Willis. He uses good tools and teams. He is im- 
proving his land and adding money to his pocket- 
book. 





sw^^^ 



ROTATION OF CROPS 

WILLIS has eii^^'lity acres in cultivation. This is 
divided into five fields, — three twenty-acre 
fields and two ten-acre fields. 

He uses the three twenty-acre fields for his regu- 
lar three-year rotation, one ten-acre field for corn, 
pindars, cliufas, and such like, and one ten-acre 
field for pasture. 

His fields are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. In 
number 1 he planted cotton, in number 2 corn and 
peas, and in number 3 oats followed by peas. That 
is the method he pursued the first year of his rota- 
tion of crops. The second year he planted oats, 
followed by peas in number 1, cotton in number 2, 
and corn and peas in number 3. The third year of 
his rotation he })lanted corn and peas in number 1, 
oats, followed by peas in number 2, and cotton in 
number 3. He is now practicing this three-year 
rotation. He keeps the ball rolling. On his farm 
no two crops are grown on the same land two years 
in succession, and the cowpea, a plant that gathers 
(88) 



Rotation of Crops 89 

large quantities of nitrogen from the air and places 
it in the soil, is grown two years out of the three. 

This method of rotation for increasing the fertil- 
ity of the land was practiced thousands of years ago. 
It is true that the farmers then did not practice the 
same system that Willis does now, but the principle 
was the same. They knew that some plants root 
shallow while some send their roots down deep into 
the earth ; that some plants can secure food where 
others fail ; that crops grow better after the land 
has been occupied by other crops ; that insect pests 
are not so bad where rotation is practiced, and that 
the cowpea transfers costly nitrogen from the air to 
the soil to be used by other plants. Willis gives 
these and a number of other reasons for practicing 
rotation of crops as the cheapest means of enriching 
the soil. 

It is true that the rotation practiced by Willis 
cannot be practiced successfully by every farmer. 
Corn, oats, cotton, and peas will not grow on every 
part of their land. But such cases in the South are 
few and far between. As a rule, cotton, corn, oats, 
and peas can be grown on every part of every farm 
in the South. In other portions of the country a 
different rotation can be practiced. But the value 
of rotation of crops should never be forgotten. 

When Willis beofan farmincf, the land that he 
now cultivates produced on an average of one-third 



90 IIov) to Live a Happy Life 

of a bale of cotton or fifteen bushels of corn per 
acre. This land now produces on an average of one 
bale of cotton or fifty bushels of corn per acre. He 
attributes this change in the productiveness of the 
land to the rotation of crops which he has practiced. 
And the rotation of crops did not cost him one cent ; 
he did not have to use hard-earned money to build 
up his land. He uses fields 4 and 5 for pasturage 
and truck crops. He uses number 4 for pasturage 
for two years and then 5 for two years. By this 
method the fertility of the fields is increased con- 
stantly. The grass roots bring up new stores of 
plant food from the subsoil and deposits it near the 
surface. The stock eats the grass and restores all of 
it to the soil except a small portion of the mineral 
matter. Nothing is ever lost by practicing rotation 
of crops, but a great deal is gained. 




BARNYARD MANURE —HUMUS -COM- 
MERCIAL FERTILIZERS 

T-f TiLLis does not let his barnyard manure wash 
W ofE down the hill in gulleys and then spend 
the value of three or four bales of cotton for com- 
mercial fertilizer to enrich his land. He saves the 
manure and puts it on the land. 

He never sells a ton of hay, fodder, or cotton 
seed. He keeps plenty of stock to eat the forage 
and saves the manure to put on the farm. He 
knows that a ton of cotton seed contains about |10 
worth of plant life, and that a ton of potatoes con- 
tains only about |1 worth of plant food. He sells 
the potatoes and keeps the cotton seed. 

He has a stall for every cow and horse ; the hogs 
and sheep have lots. He throws all scattered man- 
ure into the stables. He keeps plenty of litter in 
the stables to furnish bedding and to absorb all 
liquid manure. He is as careful in applying his 
barnyard manure as he is in using his commercial 
fertilizers. He does not throw either out on the 
ground in piles to waste. 



92 Hov!) to Live a Hcqypy Life 

HUMUS 

No grass or trash is burned on his farm. He 
plows under all the cornstalks, grass, trash, etc., 
and by so doing the tilth and water-holding capac- 
ity of his land is greatly improved. The soil is 
made loose and porous. Its productiveness is 
greatly increased. 

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 

Willis has found by experiment that his land re- 
quires potash and phosphoric acid in the proportion 
of 1 to 3. He gets his nitrogen by the use of the 
cowpea and also by the use of barnyard manure on 
his land. So he buys a mixture composed of three- 
fourths of acid phosphate and one -fourth kainit. 
He mixes 100 pounds of this mixture with every 
500 pounds of barnyard manure that he puts on his 
land. He also fertilizes his peas with the mixture 
of acid phosphate and kainit. Acid phosphate and 
kainit are cheap so his fertilizer bill does not amount 
to much. But he has nearly quadrupled the pro- 
ductive capacity of his land. 



HIS BUYING 



WHEN Willis first began to farm he was in debt 
and could not send to the factories for what 
he needed. He did not buy much until he was out 
of debt. He bought only the necessary tools to 
farm with and the necessary things for his house. 

Now he pays cash for everything that he buys. 
By cash I do not mean simply money, but also pro- 
duce. He always buys where he can get goods the 
cheapest. If he wants anything that he is forced to 
pay money for he sends to the factory for it. He 
does not pay middlemen 100 per cent, profit. 

He does not blame the middlemen for making big 
profits. He does the same thing with his farm pro- 
duce. He makes about 100 per cent, on his farm 
produce, and would make more if he could. The 
middlemen make about 100 per cent., and would 
gain more if competition could be killed. The mid- 
dlemen are not to blame. Any man will gladly take 
what is thrown in his way. No ; the middlemen 
are not to blame, it is the farmers. The farmer 

(93) 



94 HoiD to Live a Haijj^y Life 

should look out for his own interests. It is foolish- 
ness to hire a man to do that which he can do him- 
self. — be businesslike. 

The county in which Willis lives is infested with 
agents who want to sell everything ever used on the 
farm, but Willis transacts no business with them. 
He sees no reason why he should give an agent ten 
or twenty dollars to write a letter for him. Stamps 
and paper are cheap, and Willis knows how to write 
a business letter. So he orders his own goods and 
saves many dollars by so doing. 

It is true that factories generally protect the 
agents and middlemen who handl-e their goods. 
Willis had some annoyance on this account w^hen he 
began to order his own goods. His first fight was 
in regard to fertilizer. He wrote to a fertilizer firm 
in the State asking for cash terms on ten tons of 
fertilizer. In a few days he received this answer : 
"Your communication received. We refer you to 

, a merchant of your town, who handles our 

goods for us." He received about the same reply 
from two other firms, but the fourth firm that he 
heard from offered to sell the acid phosphate and 
kainit mixture for twelve dollars per ton in his own 
town. He ordered this fertilizer, and by so doing 
saved sixty dollars. This act created a sensation 
among the local fertilizer dealers. Several of the 
merchants asked him what he paid for the fertilizer, 



His Buying 95 

and when he told them they were astonished. They 
did not think that a farmer could buy goods as 
cheaply as a merchant. He now not only orders 
his own fertilizer, but also orders it for the mem- 
bers of an agricultural club. The farmers are sav- 
ing on an average seven hundred dollars per year. 

The second round that he had over the agent 
question was with a manufacturer of milk separa- 
tors. He wrote to the firm for a catalogue of their 
milk separators. The firm referred him to their agent 
for his county. He immediately wrote to a firm 
not represented in his county. He received a long 
letter in reply, the firm offering to sell him a sepa- 
rator at a greatly reduced price in order to introduce 
the machine. He bought a small one and accepted 
the agency for his county. The agent for the other 
firm has not sold one since that time, but Willis 
sells one every few weeks. 

He also had trouble with agents when he bought 
a piano. Several agents called on him and tried to 
sell him theirs. He did not consider their proposi- 
tions. He wrote to several manufacturers for prices 
of pianos. Every firm referred him to its agent. 
One firm sent a large catalogue and his wife exam- 
ined the catalogue and found the kind of a piano 
that she wanted. Willis wrote the following letter 
to the firm: "I will not deal with agents. If you 
are willing to sell me piano No. 87 at the same 



96 Hov^ to Live a Happy Life 

price that you sell to agents let me know, — if you 
are not I will buy elsewhere." He got the piano 
and saved $56.25 on that transaction. 

I could give the details of at least a dozen victo- 
ries won over agents and middlemen by Willis, but 
I think that these are sufficient to show what a 
farmer can do. The fault lies at his own door if he 
gives middlemen and agents money to write letters 
for him. Farmers follow the example set by Willis. 

Some people say that a man should patronize 
home industry. They say that the money should 
not be sent away from home, and many people are 
misled by such statements. But let us examine it. 
Willis sends $120 away from home every year for 
fertilizer. He could get it from his home dealer 
for $180, and the dealer would send |120 of it to 
the same place that Willis would, — to the factory. 
In other words, there would not be a cent more or 
less in the town. Willis would be minus $60 and 
the dealer would be plus $60. The $60 is of as 
much value to the county in Willis's pocket as it 
would be in the merchant's pocket. 

It is well to take an interest in the welfare of 
others, but common sense tells a man that his own 
self should be considered first. Charity begins at 
home, a man must provide for his own household. 
The merchant buys where he can get goods cheapest, 
— the farmer should do the same. 




LIVE STOCK 



THE soil on his farm produces all kinds of grass, 
and a beautiful stream of water flows through 
it. He has green pastures every month in the 
year ; it is only necessary for him to to feed three or 
four months out of the twelve ; and cotton seed, the 
cheapest feed of its kind in the world, is grown on 
his farm. Good markets are near by ; no biting 
north wind and raging storms affect his stock in 
the winter ; and the many tall trees afford them 
friendly protection from the summer's sun. 

Willis realized the fact that live stock can be 
kept for less in Mississippi than in any other State 
in the Union. He knew that farmers in Illinois, 
Iowa, and other northern States made money in the 
live-stock business, so he decided to devote most 
of his time to that branch of the business. 

The benefits that he is deriving from stock farm- 
ing can be briefly summed up as follows: 

1. He has plenty of meat, milk, butter, and such 
things for home use and for sale. 

7 (97) 



98 Hoi(^ to Live a Hojipy Life 

2. He sells horses, mules, sheep, beeves, milch 
cows, and other farm animals at a large profit. 

3. The coarse foods grown on his farm are converted 
into beef, butter, eggs, and other highly concentrated 
products that command a good price. 

4. He is forced to practice a system of diversified 
farming. He must raise food stuffs and have pastures 
for his stock to graze on, therefore he cannot grow 
cotton exclusively. 

5. He saves the manure and puts it on the land. 
He is not a robber ; he is not willing to rob the soil 
entrusted to his care. So his land is increasing in fer- 
tility. 

6. He never buys on credit. He sells pork, lard, 
butter, wool, beef, mutton, and other farm products 
the entire year. His farm will never be under a 
mortgage. 

7. His crop never fails. The late cold may kill his 
fruit and oat crop ; the dry weather may injure his 
corn and cotton crop ; but his live stock is sure. 

8. He is never idle. He is employed profitably in 
the winter as well as in the summer. 

It is true that many farmers that live in Missis- 
sippi fail to make money in the live stock business. 
They have "scrub cows," and "razor-back hogs." 
They are " scrubs." 

If y/illis had heeded the advice of those " pio- 
neers " his pocket would now, like theirs, be empty. 
But he used common sense. 

1. He bought thorough bred males and bred them 
to good native stock. 



Live Stock 99 

2. He has good pastures for his stock. 

3. He feeds his stock scientifically. 

4. He cares for his stock in the summer and winter. 
They have shelter in the winter and shade in the 
summer. 

5. He does not let his stock drink foul water. In 
fact, he uses common sense. 

This industry is fast becoming the predominant 
branch of farmino- in the section where Willis lives. 
Many poor cotton farmers are being succeeded by 
rich, independent stock breeders. 

The pastures are being roamed by fat cattle, 
hogs, sheep, and mules. In fact an era of pros- 
perity is dawning upon the farmers that live in 
that part of the State. 

Willis has not only set a good example by 
engaging in stock breeding, but he enjoys the 
peace, happiness, and prosperity that blessed Jacob 
of old. 



v\ >^ -r^ y\ 

.J> -^ •/• -^ 



L.ofC. 



DAIRY COWS 

WILLIS kept only one cow for several years after 
he married. He now keeps three milk cows. 
He says he does not care to keep any more. Not 
because there is no profit in the business, but be- 
cause he cannot run a stock farm, dairy, and cotton 
farm and have spare time to enjoy life. 

It is useless for me to say that he has thorough- 
bred milk cows. He has no use for "scrubs" or 
" general purpose " cows for dairy cows. He knows 
that cows, as well as men, are specialists. He knows 
that a doctor cannot succeed as a lawyer, a brick- 
layer as a tailor, nor a beef cow as a milk cow pro- 
ducer. He knows that milk cows convert their feed 
into milk, and that beef cows convert their feed 
into beef. He wants milk and butter, so he has 
specialists to attend to that work. 

He did a great deal of studying before he decid- 
ed what breed of cows to get. His surroundings 
did more than anything else to decide that question 
for him. He wanted to get rich milk. He wanted 
his cows to get most of their feed in the pastures. 
(100) 



Dairy Cows 101 

He took special interest in studying the history of 
each milk breed. He found that the Ayrshire breed 
had always been noted for being- active and hardy. 
He also found this breed noted for being quiet and 
docile. On account of these facts the Ayrshire 
breed has always had a world-wide reputation. 
He found many points in favor of the Ayrshire, 
and nothing against them from a historical stand- 
point. 

He next studied the Ayrshire from the point of 
shape. Mr. Harley, one of the greatest dairymen 
that has ever lived, says that a dairy cow should 
have the following shape: "Head, — small, long, 
and narrow toward the muzzle; horns, — small, 
clear, and wide apart ; eyes, — not large, brisk, and 
lively; neck, — slender, long, and tapering toward 
the head, with a little loose skin below ; shoulders 
and forequarters, — light and thin ; hind quarters, — 
large and broad; back, — straight and joints slack 
and open; carcass,^ deep in the rib; tail, — small 
and long, reaching to the heels; legs, — small and 
short, with firm joints ; udder, — square, but a little 
oblong, stretching forward, thin skinned, capacious, 
but not low hung ; teats, or paps, — small, pointing 
outward, wide apart; milk veins, — capacious and 
prominent; skin, — loose and soft like a glove; 
hair, — short, soft, and woolly ; general figure, when 
in flesh, — handsome and well proportioned." After 



102 How to Live a Happy Life 

examining the representatives of several milk breeds, 
he found the Ayrshire to be the best as far as shape 
was concerned. 

After adding- this information to what he had 

o 

gained at college, he decided to get an Ayrshire 
cow and bull. I am satisfied that he acted wisely 
in so doing. For one of the world's greatest dairy- 
men has said, "For purely dairy purposes, the Ayr- 
shire cow deserves first place. In consequence of 
her small, symmetrical, and compact body, com- 
bined with a well-formed chest and a capacious 
stomach, there is little waste comparatively speak- 
ing through the respiratory system ; while, at the 
same time, there is a very complete assimilation of 
the food, and thus she converts a large proportion 
of her food into milk. So remarkable is this fact 
that all dairy farmers who have had any experience 
on the point agree in stating that an Ayrshire cow 
generally gives a larger return of milk for the feed 
consumed than a cow of any other breed." 

Before I leave the point of buying thoroughbred 
milk cows, I will say that while Willis keeps only 
thoroughbred milk cows he does not advise the 
average farmer to follow his example. He advises 
the average farmer to buy thoroughbred Ayrshire 
bulls and breed them to their best native cows. 
This mode, he says, is simple and can be practiced 
successfully by every farmer. 



Dairy Cows 103 

He had decided upon the breed; he must now 
decide upon the individuals in that breed. He was 
fairlj, well acquainted with the best breeders in the 
country, so he wrote to them for pedigrees and de- 
scriptions of their cattle for sale. He took great 
interest in studying the pedigrees of the cow's and 
bull's ancestry. He kept in mind the true saying, 
" Lik« beg^ets like." He knew that breed should 
be considered in buying dairy cows, and he also 
knew that the pedigree, the temperament, the health, 
the activity, and the energy of the organs of diges- 
tion and secretion should be considered. A good 
constitution is indicated by a deep, broad chest, 
broad and well spread ribs, a good appetite, and a 
desire for water frequently. It is also best to buy a 
young cow. All these things and many others were 
kept in mind by Willis in buying a cow and bull. 

Some idea as to how he feeds and cares for his 
stock will be given in another chapter, but I will 
mention a few things in regard to the feeding and 
management of his dairy stock in particular. He 
knows that milk cannot be secured from a cow's 
bag unless feed goes in at the mouth; that a good 
registered cow well fed and well cared for will give 
as much milk as several half-fed cows. He cannot 
afford to own and care for several cows, so he has 
three extra-well cared for and gets all the milk that 
Mary cares to handle. 



104 How to Live a Happy Life 

Most farniors are very particular to ^ive their 
cows tlie ri^rlit kind of feed, but usually tlu^y fail to 
so T)roi)orti()M tlio feed that a balanced ration is 
^iven. Willis takes special care to «j^ive his (jows 
the ri<j;ht kind of fetMl and the riij^iit amount of eac:h 
kind, lie keeps constantly in mind that a cow 
r(Mjuir(!S a c(M"tain amount of fcied to replace the 
wearing' of the body; that the excess over this 
amount is changed into milk; that the feed must 
have Hullicient bulk to fill up the stomach; that a 
cow should not be given more than she will eat up 
clean; that plenty of good water must be given 
regularly; that the cows must b(^ fed regularly. He 
knows these thini^'-s and doeth them. 

I will give a drawing of the ground ])lan of his 
barn. The location of the stalls in which the milk 
cows are kept is shown in that plan. You can see 
that they are well housed. Plenty of fresh leaves 
and straw are thrown into the stalls every day. They 
are well brushed and curried every day. During 
the cold weather in the winter they have heavy 
blank(^ts buckhnl on them when th(^y are turned out 
to graze in the fields. He gives his cows kind treat- 
nunit and they manufacture large amounts of grass 
and coarse forage into milk. 

The pastures in which his cows are kej)t are dis- 
cussed in a s('parat(i chapler. 

He begins to dry his cows two months before 



Dairy Cows 105 

calving time. He does not milk them any for six 
weeks before that time. A few days before calving 
time he separates that cow from among the rest and 
gives her plenty of green feed, salt, and water. He 
does not give her anything else to eat. He never 
disturbs the cow and in every case on his farm the 
parturition has been natural and easy. While this 
is true he watches the cow to see that no difficulty 
arises in parturition. His cows have calves every 
two years. 

The same colored woman milks the cows at all 
times. She has been milking from h^ youth and 
understands the task well. She is very careful to 
clean the udder well before beginning to milk. 
She begins slowly and rapidly increases her speed 
until the udder is absolutely empty. She milks the 
cows at the same time every day and uses a pail 
sufficiently large to hold one cow's milk. She treats 
the cows with uniform gentleness; they do not know 
what harshness means. 

Willis raises his calves, for it pays him much 
more to raise them than it does to sell them for 
veal. As soon as the mother has licked the calf it 
is removed out of her sight and hearing. The cow 
is then milked perfectly clean and the calf is made 
to drink a part of this milk. The calf is taught to 
drink by placing one's fingers in its mouth and then 
putting its mouth in the milk. For the first few 



106 How to Ijive a Happy Life 

clays it is fed five or six times a day, but soon it 
is necessary to feed it only three times per day. 
It is fed the whole milk from the cow for about 
three weeks, and then it is fed on warm separated 
milk, potatoes, and a little cotton seed meal. The 
quantity of solid feed is constantly increased until 
the calf is five or six weeks old when grass and hay 
are added. This feed is continued until the calf is 
seven or eight weeks old when it is placed in a 
pasture and given skimmed milk once a day for a 
few days. After it is two months okl it is given 
about the same feed and care that the cow gets. 

After the cow gives birth to a calf she is not fed 
anything except grass for about a week, or probably 
longer. Plenty of grass, water, and salt is all that 
she should have to eat. The feed is gradually in- 
creased until she is given full feed. 





HOGS 

COLUMBUS discovered America in 1492. De Sota 
landed on the coast of Florida in 1538. 
Each of these men brought with them what they 
considered were the best meat producing animals 
in the Old World. That animal was then and is 
to-daj the hog. 

It is true we are told that in days past and gone 
the hog was possessed of many devils, but w^e 
should remember the fact that that hog ran down 
the hill into the sea and was drowned. We are 
inclined to think that the devil finds no dwell- 
ing place in the hog now ; the hog has been con- 
verted. 

Willis uses common sense in this department of 
his work as he does in all others. He has no razor- 
back hogs. He breeds only the thoroughbred 
Berkshire. He says that he has tried several 
breeds but found the Berkshire the best hog for 
his locality. He says that the Berkshire has a fine 
bone, extra good muscular system, firm flesh, and 

(107) 



108 Hov!) to Live a Happy Life 

excellent hams and shoulders. He also says that 
they are gifted with an excellent constitution and 
are energetic. The meat of the Berkshire is in 
^reat demand as it has a g-ood proportion of lean 
distributed throuxrh it. 

The South buys millions of dollars worth of lard 
from the North and West every year. The South 
has not yet learned that meat cannot be produced 
from razor-back hogs. When the South kills the 
last razor-back hog then the people can truly sin^, 
" O, how happy are we to see the curse removed." 
Then the South will not only produce meat for its 
own use but will feed other people. The example 
and writings of Willis are doing much to replace 
the "hog built for speed" with the "hog built 
for meat." 

Willis is very careful in selecting breeding 
stock. He uses every hog except the very choicest 
for meat; he reserves only the very best for breed- 
ing purposes. 

He does not let his boar serve his sow before 
he is nine months old. The sow when served must 
be at least ten months old. His sows raise only 
two litters each year. The first litior of l)igs is 
farrowed in February or early March. J'hoy 
are pushed from the time they are born until they 
are killed. At nine months old, they weigh on an 
average of 250 pounds. 



Hogs 109 

He does not breed too closely in-and-in. He 
knows that the tendency of close breeding is to 
render the constitution delicate. For this reason 
he always takes special care in selecting hogs for 
breeding purposes. If he finds a pig in the litter 
that is free from cough, superior in size, and shows 
great constitutional vigor, he saves that pig for 
future examination. By so doing he constantly 
improves his stock. 

He values breed ; but he also values feed. He 
knows that breed without feed is no good. The 
best bred pigs in existence will degenerate into 
the speedy type in a little while, if not properly 
fed. Never forget the fact that breed and feed 
must be combined if success in pork production is 
ever to be attained. 

The sow carries her young three months, three 
weeks and three days on an average. There is 
sometimes a variation of twenty days ; as stated 
before the first litter of pigs are farrowed in Feb- 
ruary or early March. At farrowing time the sow 
is kept by herself in a good warm place. The 
second litter comes early enough for the pigs to 
be weaned and eating by winter. 

The pigs are castrated at from two to three 
weeks old, and weaned at six months old. He keeps 
them in good pastures, and feeds them on corn meal 
mash, soaked corn, potatoes, and skimmed milk. 



110 How to Live a Happy Life 

He butchers his hogs at nine or ten months old. 
He knows that the daily gain of any animal becomes 
less and less every year they are kept. He also 
knows that hogs weighing 600 pounds will not 
brintr as much per pound as hogs weighing 250 
pounds. 

Willis knows that it takes a certain per cent, of 
the food given to the animal to replace the daily 
waste of the body. He knows that a young animal 
converts a larger per cent, of the food it eats into 
flesh than an older one does. So he feeds his pigs 
high from birth and sells them at nine or ten 
months. He never allows the pigs to fall away at 
any stage of their growth. He keeps them grow- 
ing ; he never lets them rest. 



V^<1^' 



M- 



POULTRY 

ARY has charge of the poultry department and 
she knows how to run this department as well 
as Willis knows how to run any department on his 
farm. She was raised on the farm and has made 
poultry and dairying a study since childhood. She 
was glad to relieve Willis of the care of the poul- 
try and dairy departments when they were married- 
She is inclined to be a specialist. She does not 
believe in trying to do too many things. She is 
now breeding turkeys, chickens, and geese. But 
she is thinking of selling her turkeys and devoting 
her time to chickens and geese. 

During her life she has had experience in breed- 
ing the principal English and American breeds. 
She now breeds only the white Leghorns. She pre- 
fers that breed to all others. She says, "They are 
hardy; excellent winter layers; are not always try- 
ing to set; the young take care of themselves and 
feather out so that they look like grown chickens 
when they are seven or eight weeks old; they are 
quiet; the eggs are superior in flavor; and as a table 
fowl they are unexcelled." 

(Ill) 



112 How to Live a Happy Life 

Mary has always avoided crosses in breeding 
fowls; she always keeps the breed pure. She knows 
that the effect of cross breeding is bad shape and 
imperfect feathering. 

One cock is kept for every ten hens ; one cock 
for every eight or ten hens is suflBcient under any 
and all conditions. If the object is eggs only, then 
no cock should be kept as the hens will lay as many 
eggs when not fertilized as when they are. When 
the raising of chickens is the object it is best to 
have plenty of males to insure fertile eggs. Eggs 
not fertilized will not hatch. 

Mary has a large poultry house. The roof sheds 
water perfectly, but there are cracks in the sides to 
admit plenty of pure air. The house is kept free 
from all fowl pests. 

The fowls range in the fields and woods near the 
barn and get a large part of their living by eating 
insects. They secure green vegetation in the fields 
at all times of the year so it is only necessary to 
furnish them with grain and meat. In fact, it is 
only necessary on the farm to furnish fowls with a 
covered shed to roost in and a little grain and meat 
to eat. They will do the rest. 

The bulk of the feed given to the fowls by Mary 
is grain. Ground grain in the form of thick dough 
is fed to the young fowls. She never gives her 
chickens sloppy feed. The old chickens are usually 



Poultry 113 

fed the whole grain. Very little meat is fed but 
that little is given regularly. Ground bones, char- 
coal, and grit are kept where the hens have free 
access to them. Plenty of fresh water is also kept 
where the fowls can obtain it at any time. 

Mary keeps a little advertisment in several farm 
papers. By this means she sells all the choice 
fowls she has to spare at good prices. She also 
ships a good many settings of eggs. On this ac- 
count she is not bothered with fattening and dress- 
ing the fowls for market. 

She gives her turkeys the same treatment that 
she does her chickens. She sells most of them in 
the local market at excellent prices. 

The geese are furnished shelter, green grass, 
water, and grain. They live on the grass in the 
cotton field most of the year. Grass cannot grow 
to any great size when geese have ready access to 
it. 

Mary's accounts show that she is making large 
profits in the poultry business. Others can do the 
same. 
8 




^ 




w 



FRUIT ORCHARD 

iLLis has almost every kind of fruit tree on 
his farm that will grow there. He is not 
willing to do without the choicest and most eco- 
nomical luxury on the farm. He knows that fruit 
is healthful and that health is happiness. 

The planting of fruit trees was the first thing 
that he did after finishing his dwelling. He was 
determined to build a true home. He thought of 
the domestic uses of fruit, the profitableness of it 
as a market crop, and its beautifying effect on his 
home. The result of his thinking and acting is a 
fine fruit orchard. 

His fruit trees are planted in a sandy loam with 
a subsoil of deep red clay. The soil is rich enough 
to produce two thirds of a bale of cotton per acre. 
He could not secure the kind of trees that he 
wanted anywhere near home so he sent to a 
nursery for them. They cost him five cents a piece 
and freight. 

He received the apple and pear trees ordered in 
February. He planted the trees immediately. He 
dug holes about three feet in diameter and about 
(114) 



Fruit Orchard 115 

eighteen inches deep. Some of the best top soil 
and about a peck of bone dust was then thrown into 
the bottom of each hole. The trees were placed 
in the holes one inch lower than they were in the 
nursery. The earth was replaced in the holes, and 
since that time the trees have been well manured 
and cultivated. They are now rewarding their 
owner with delicious fruit. 

He was able to secure plenty of good plum, fig, 
and peach trees from his neighbors. They would 
not take pay for them so he was in just that 
much. His neighbors like most Southern people 
would not charge their neighbors for anything but 
land and stock. He also planted those trees in 
February. He considers that the best month in 
which to plant trees. 

The land on which his trees are planted had long 
been in briars, broom straw, and old field pines. 
It had not been in cultivation since the Civil War. 
For twenty-five or thirty years before the war 
" plantation darkies " fertilized it with their feet. 
But when they were given their freedom they did 
not care to work any longer so this land was uncul- 
tivated. It was very poor when last cultivated 
but Nature had been busy at work on it. Nature 
had reclaimed it. 

The trees are forty feet apart so he has plenty 
of room to cultivate them. They are cultivated 



116 Ho'w to Live a Happy Life 

very shallow with a cultivator twice every year. 
They are fertilized with kainit, barnyard manure, 
lime, and phosphates. He also puts leaves and 
trash broadcast over the ground at least once a 
year. 

He began to prune the trees the first spring after 
they were planted. He has since pruned them 
annually. The lowest limbs on the trees are about 
four feet from the ground. 

I could discuss the different varieties of pears, 
plums, grapes, apples, peaches, and other fruits 
in his orchard, the cultivation, pruning, grafting, 
and budding, in detail, but every farmer is well 
informed on this subject, so it is not necessary to 
tell how Willis does these things. 

The point of greatest interest in connection with 
Willis' fruit growing is the canning, preserving, 
drying, of fruits. He makes his own sugar so it 
costs him very little money to put up all the fruit 
that the family can consume during the entire year. 
He buys one-half gallon and gallon fruit jars. He 
puts away pears, peaches, figs, apples, and other 
fruits to be consumed by the family. To be accu- 
rate, he now cans, sixty gallons of fruit per year. 
He also dries a good many apples and peaches 
and makes several gallons of jellies each year. 

I have given Willis credit for this work, but he 
is not the power behind the throne. His most ex- 



Fruit Orchard 



117 



cellent wife is the one to whom the credit is due. 
She does not believe in farmers living on bread 
and bought bacon. She says, " Farmers can live 
better than kings." Visit her home and you will 
see the verification of what she says. 





SHEEP 

WILLIS keeps a number of the descendants of 
the flocks kept by Abel, David, and Moses. 
Those men of old knew a good thing and took ad- 
vantage of it. They made a great deal of money 
by handling sheep. Willis makes a great deal of 
money by liandling sheep and every farmer can do 
likewise. 

We read in the Bible about how pleased God 
was when Abel brought him an offering. That 
offering was a dressed lamb. If I may be per- 
mitted to speculate as to the reason why God pre- 
ferred the offering of Abel to that of Cain, I will 
say that it was because God recognized the divinity 
in the lamb. The divinity was then and is now 
the lamb, mutton, and wool. The divinity does 
not apply to any other farm animal. 

Sheep seem to be perfectly at home on Willis's 
farm. In fact, his farm is eminently suited to 
sheep. The climate is good, there is plenty of 
range, and plenty of pure water, and good grass. 
He says that sheep can be raised as well on a level 
(118) 



Sheep 119 

plain as thej can be kept in a rocky, hilly country. 
Everything is favorable to sheep raising in Missis- 
sippi except the cur dog. The cur dog is the great 
curse of the South. 

The sheep raised by Willis are a cross between 
Cotswold and South-Down. He claims that they 
are less liable to disease, more prolific, better 
nursers and less liable to lose their lambs. He 
says that they have lambs that are hardier and more 
vigorous and can be put on the market earlier than 
the fine wool breeds. 

Willis gives his little flock of sheep constant care 
and attention. It is necessary for him to do so. 
Wandering curs must be kept away from them, 
disease must be warded off, and many other things 
require attention. But the laborer is worthy of 
his hire, in return he gets money off his lambs 
and wool. 

He breeds his sheep at two years old. He usu- 
ally places his bucks with the ewes the fall after the 
ewes are one year old. He never breeds a ewe 
after she is eight years old. His best lambs are 
produced by his ewes that are from three to seven 
years old. He considers one buck sufficient for 
fifty lambs. 

He keeps a record of the breeding of each ewe. 
That is a record of the date that the buck covered 
her and the name of the buck Ewes carry their 



120 How to Live a Happy Life 

young on an average 152 days from successful 
service. The shortest period is 146 days, and the 
longest period is 161 days. Willis never permits 
a ewe to go out of his barn enclosure after she has 
been carrying her young for 146 days. 

The rams are not permitted to run with the ewes. 
They are kept in a separate pasture. They are 
trained to be led and handled. They are given 
extra care and feed for at least six weeks before 
tupping time. They are not permitted to serve 
more than two or three ewes at the beginning of 
the season, the number being increased to five or 
even to ten if necessity demands it. At the close of 
the season the rams are again restricted to a small 
number for an exhausted ram cannot get strong 
progeny. The reproductive organs are kept in full 
vigor by daily exercise. 

It is useless to discuss the pastures for the sheep 
for a lengthy talk on that subject will be found in 
another chapter. 

Willis has always been told that sheep require 
no water when in a pasture, but he has never heeded 
such nonsense. His sheep can get pure water 
whenever they want it. He knows that sheep re- 
quire a large amount of water especially during 
suckling time. 

Willis has two pens in his barn 30 by 10 feet for 
his sheep to stay in during the cold, rainy weather 



Sheep 121 

of the winter. They are allowed to run in the 
barnyard the larger part of the year. 

He feeds his sheep on cotton seed, peas, hay, 
potatoes, and other farm products during the winter. 
They never suffer for something to eat. 

The ewes are given special care at or near lamb- 
ing time. They are kept in a warm place and 
given plenty of laxative food. During unusually 
cold weather they are given plenty of warm water 
to drink. 

The lambs are well cared for especially while 
young. They are castrated at from two to four 
days old, and weaned in the early fall. When 
weaned they are placed out of the hearing of the 
dams and well fed and cared for. A large number 
of them are shipped to the markets in early spring. 

Willis never washes his sheep before shearing 
them, and no unskilled person is allowed to shear 
them. He does not want their skin cut and torn in 
shearing. He shears them evenly and smoothly, 
and reasonably close, but he does not leave their 
skin naked. 

A discussion as to how he treats his sheep will 
be found in the chapter on Veterinary. 



DAIRYING 

MARY has charge of the milk. I will tell in as 
few words as possible how she manages it. 

As soon as milked it is strained through a wire 
gauze and two thicknesses of cheese cloth. It is 
then poured from one vessel to another several times 
to allow the animal odor to escape. It is then 
skimmed by means of a separator. The warm 
skimmed milk from the separator is fed to chickens, 
hogs, and calves. 

As soon as the cream is separated from the milk 
it is put into a refrigerator where the temperature 
is 45 degrees. Churning is done every two days, 
so four sets of cream are mixed. It is mixed im- 
mediately after separating each time. The mixing 
is done by thoroughly stirring it after the fresh 
cream has been added. The mixed cream remains 
in the refrigerator until it is partly sour. It is then 
ready for churning. 

The vessel that contains the cream is placed in 

water at about 60 degrees F. The cream is stirred 

slowly until it is of the same temperature as the 

water. It is then strained through a wire-gauze 

(122) 



Dairying 123 

strainer into an eight-gallon barrel churn. During 
the winter while the cream is extra thick about one 




gallon of water to three of cream is mixed in. Suf- 
ficient coloring is added to give the butter a nice 
straw color. The churn is never filled over one- 



124 How to Live a Happy Life 

tliird full. Tho temperature of the cream in the 
cliuni is uhont 50 decfrees in tlio summer and about 



60 deo;reos in the winter when the cluirning begins. 
A dairy thermometer is used at all times. 



Dairying 



125 



The churn crank is revolved just fast enough to 
cause the cream to fall from one side of the churn 
to the other with full force. The churning is con- 
tinued until the butter particles are about as large 
as wheat kernels. The churning is then stopped. 
The butter milk is drawn off and the butter washed 
first in cold brine water and then in clear, cold water. 




It is removed from the churn to the worker where 
three-fourths of an ounce of salt is added to every 
pound of butter. The butter is worked until the 
salt is evenly distributed through it. It is then put 
up in one-half pound prints. 

Mary knows that " cleanliness is next to Godli- 
ness," so she keeps every dairy utensil perfectly 
clean. She washes the churn, butter worker, buck- 



126 Ho%o to Live a Hajyj^y Life 

ets, and everything else in hot and cold water. 
Cleanliness is her watchword. 

She sells every pound of her butter in the local 
market for twenty-five cents per pound. She could 
sell several hundred pounds per month at the same 
price, but she is dairying to enjoy life as well as to 
make money. They are making a good living and 
saving $1,000 per year. That is sufficient. 





INSECT PESTS 

A GREAT change has come over this land since the 
days of our forefathers. Insects are here to 
destroy the farmer's live stock and farm produce. 
The day when luscious apples free from the apple 
maggot; plums unscarred by the curculid; and pears 
that knew nothing of the blight, is past and gone. 

Willis does all that he can to save what he pro- 
duces. In the following paragraphs I will tell you 
how he deals with the commonest insect pests. 

Cleanliness is his first remedy for stock. It is his 
best remedy. Fertility of land, clean farming, and 
rotation of crops are the main remedies, or rather 
preventives of infested plants. The first insect 
pest that I will discuss is the 



SCREW WORM 

The fly is much larger than the common house 
fly, and can be distinguished from it by three, black 
longitudinal lines that are on that portion of the 
body just back of the head. The eggs hatch in a 
few hours into small maggots which remain in the 
wound for about eight days, or until they are 

(127) 



128 How to Live a Happy Life 

grown. The maggots then drop to the ground where 
they lie buried one inch deep for eight days when 
they come out as flies. 

Remedy: Crude carbolic acid. It should be 
applied directly to the wound where it will not only 
kill the worms but also remove all the dead matter. 

THE OX WARBLE 

This insect is known as the " wolves " that are 
found just under the skin of cattle during the 
spring. The eggs are laid by a fly around the 
mouth or about the forequarters of the animal. The 
eggs hatch and the animal gets the worms into its 
mouth by biting itself. The worms are swallowed 
and bore upwards through the digestive track until 
they reach the skin. They remain under the skin 
for about three months when they bore their way 
out and fall to the ground ; there they remain for 
about one month when they reappear as flies to lay 
eggs for another brood. 

Remedy: Press the wolves out by means of the 
thumb during the month of February. Crush every 
one of the wolves under foot. 

THE HORSE BOT FLY 

A fly lays the eggs during the summer on the 
legs and about the mouth, and the worms are taken 



Insect Pests 129 

into the stomacli. They attach themselves to the 
walls of the stomacli and remain there until some- 
time during the following spring, when they pass 
out of the body with the undigested food. They go 
into the ground and soon come out as flies. As a 
rule they do no damage. 

THE HORN FLY 

These flies attack cattle and cause injury by 
sucking blood. The flies are much smaller than 
the house fly and when upon the cattle always have 
their heads toward the head of the animal. The 
eiJ["Sfs are laid in fresh manure and hatch within 
twenty-four hours into small maggots which re- 
main in the manure for a week and then go into the 
ground to form pupae and come forth as mature 
flies. 

Remedy: The flies can be kept off the animal by 
applying two parts of any cheap oil, one part of 
thin tar, and one part of crude carbolic acid to their 
backs and sides every five days by means of a brush. 
If a spray pump can be obtained the cattle should 
be sprayed with a mixture composed of three parts 
of kerosene and ten of water. This mixture kills 
the flies, therefore the cattle should be sprayed 
every day when the most flies are on them, until 
the flies beofin to decrease in number. 



130 Hov^ to Live a Happy Life 

HOG LICE 

They need no description. 

Remedy : Kerosene emulsion, stron^^ tobacco 
decoction, stronsr soapsuds, or kerosene, one part 
to three or four parts of lard. 

CHICKEN PESTS 

Every farmer should know the difference be- 
tween chicken mitre and cliicken lice. The mitres 
are larife and redder than the lice. The mitres are 
very active and will i^et on a person and crawl very 
rapidly. The lice are not active and will get only 
on the body of the fowl. 

Remedy: Cleanliness. Pyrethrum powder should 
be sprinkled on every part of the chicken house 
plentifully and frequently. 

INSECTS INJURIOUS TO STORED GRAIN 

The three principal insects that are injurious to 
stored grain are the Angumois grain moth, the black 
weevil, and the red grain beettle. 

Remedy : Bi-sulphide of carbon. It evaporates 
very rapidly w^hen left exj)osed, and the fumes are 
heavier than the air and therefore sink. The amount 
that should be applied depends on the tightness or 
closeness of the bin or vessel in which the grain is 



Insect Pests 131 

stored. As a rule one ounce to 100 pounds of grain 
is sufficient. DANGER. — It is a violent explosive* 
so that lights, cigars, and the like should be kept 
away until the odor has passed away. 

HOUSE FLIES 

Eggs are laid in fresh horse manure. A single 
female lays about fifty eggs. 

Remedy : Have the stables a good distance from 
the house. Leave pyrenthrum exposed in the house 
and the flies will leave. 

CLOTHES MOTHS 

Are too well known to need any description. If 
clothing, etc., can be enclosed in perfectly tight 
paper bags before moths begin to fly and lay their 
eggs the clothes will be safe. 

ANTS 

Remedy : Find their bed and pour a tablespoon- 
ful of carbon bi-sulphide in the hole and close it up. 

Farmers do as Willis does; the insects cannot 
stand him! 




HIS PASTURE 



WILLIS has ten acres in a pasture. He knows that 
stock cannot be made profitable unless they 
are grown on cheap feed. He knows that grass is 
the cheapest feed that can be grown in Mississippi, 
so he has green pastures all the year round. 

The pasture is changed every five years, — this is 
done to restore the fertility of the soil by the differ- 
ent methods that Willis uses for that purpose. 

Willis prepares his pasture land thoroughly by 
deep plowing, subsoiling, and harrowing. In some 
instances he does not subsoil every part of the land 
for pasture, but in most cases he follows the plow 
by a subsoil plow. The plow cuts about four inches 
deep and the subsoil plow cuts about six inches. 
So the land is well broken for ten inches down, A 
steel harrow is run over the land just before it is 
seeded. 

He keeps five acres of his pasture in Bermuda 

grass, for he thinks that is the best that he can grow 

on his farm. It is one of the most nutritious grasses 

grown in the South, and is relished by all kinds of 

(132) 



His Pasture 133 

stock. The hog, cow, sheep, and mule will all 
leave a pasture of other grass for one of Bermuda. 

After the land is well prepared he takes a narrow 
shovel plow and opens rows about two feet apart. 
The sod that he has obtained from the other Ber- 
muda pasture is then broken into small pieces and 
dropped two feet apart in the rows. The roller is 
then run over the soil, and this makes the soil firm 
about the Bermuda sod as well as levelling the 
ground. 

It does not matter if the pieces of Bermuda sod 
are not entirely covered, if there is sufficient moist- 
ure in the ground the roots will take hold and grow 
rapidly. If the grass is well set in March, it will 
furnish good grazing about the last of May. From 
the first of June to the middle of November, it 
furnishes excellent grazing. This grass sod is not 
interfered with until it is five years old. 

Carpet grass grows on every roadside, in every 
old field, and around every stream of water in the 
country, so it is not necessary for Willis to have a 
pasture of that. Lespideza also grows in the open 
parts of the woods, and among the other grasses in 
his pasture. 

The woods furnish excellent grazing during sev- 
eral months of the year, but during the winter his 
stock cannot secure green feed any place but in his 
pasture. However, they do not suffer for green 



134 Hov!) to Live a Happy Life 

feed. He plants about twenty acres of hairy vetch 
and winter turf oats during the months of Septem- 
ber and October. Just after his cotton is picked 
over he scatters oat and vetch seed broadcast over 
the cotton field and runs a cultivator through the 
cotton. The coldest freezes that ever occur in 
Mississippi never injure the oats and vetch. His 
stock grazes on the Bermuda grass, and eats pota- 
toes, and pindars until the first of January. By 
that time the oats and vetch give good grazing. 
The stock is taken off the oat and vetch field by the 
last of March ; the oats and vetch then grow into 
an excellent crop by the first of June. 

I could discuss his pasture at greater length, but 
I have in other chapters talked about the different 
grasses, and for that reason it will be unnecessary 
for me to discuss it at greater length here. I deem 
it sufficient to say that Willis has a green pasture 
on his farm all the year round. 

Every farmer in the South can do the same. 



HIS FEEDING 

IN ORDEK that every reader may understand why 
Willis feeds as he does, I will give a few 
scientific facts upon which his feeding is based. 

An animal's body is made up of water and dry 
matter. A young animal contains more water 
than an old one. The new born animal contains 
about sixty-five per cent, of water while an old one 
contains about fifty per cent. As the animal's 
body is fully one -half water, we can see why Willis 
takes care to give his stock plenty of pure water. 

The dry matter in the animal's body is composed 
of fats, nitrogenous materials, and ash. Fats are 
distributed throughout the body in varying quan- 
tities and are used by the body as fuel for heat 
and force. Nitrogenous materials, or protein, 
form the basis of blood, lean meat, tendons, liga- 
ments, sinews, horns, hoofs, hair, skin, and in fact, 
all the wearing parts of the body. Protein is con- 
verted into fats in the body when a sufficient 
amount of fat is not contained in the food given to 
the animals, that is when the ration is not narrow 

(135) 



136 Ho to to Live a Happy Life 

enough. But neither fats nor corbohydrates can 
take the place of protein in the animals body. 

Carbohydrates do not exist in the animal's body 
as such but are changed into fats. Fats and carbo- 
hydrates are the heat and energy producing com- 
pounds. A pound of fat produces about 2.25 times 
as much heat as a pound of carbohydrates. Now 
since we find water, ash, fats, and protein com- 
pounds in the animal's body we at once realize the 
fact that the food given to the animal must contain 
the compounds. The animal does not build up 
compounds but tears up the compound that is built 
up by the plants. 

The object of giving food to the animal is to 
supply ash, carbohydrates, fats, and protein. Most 
all food stuffs contain ash so it need not be con- 
sidered in feeding. Now every feed given to an 
animal should contain a certain amount of protein, 
or muscle-producing compounds, a certain per 
cent, of fats, and a certain quantity of carbohy- 
drates. That is a certain ratio should exist between 
the muscle-producing and the fat-producing com- 
pounds given to an animal in his feed. This is 
known as balancing rations. When the ratio is 
correct the food is called a " balanced ration. " 
That is a ration on which an animal will do best ; a 
milk cow will give the most milk, a hog fatten quick- 
est, a race horse run swiftest, and a dray horse pull 



Jlis Feeding 137 

the heaviest load. It may seem on first thought 
that when we know the composition and digesti- 
bility of food stuffs and the composition of animals 
in " good fix " we can feed the animal just what it 
needs. But this is not the case. The same animal 
will require a larger per cent, of muscle -producing 
compound at one time than it will at another. 
When an animal works it requires more muscle - 
forming compound than it does when idle. An 
animal requires more heat-producing food in the 
winter than it does in the summer. 

Milk is very rich in nitrogenous matter so an 
animal giving milk should be fed on food stuffs 
rich in nitrogenous materials. 

Thousands of experiments have been conducted 
by the best feeders in America and Europe to find 
out the exact number of pounds of fats and pro- 
tein that should be fed daily to different animals 
under different conditions. It has been found 
that different animals require from one-half to 
two and one-half pounds of protein per day ; from 
twelve to one hundred and seventy-one pounds of 
carbohydrates ; and from one-half to one pound 

of fats. 

The food given to animals must not only contain 
these compounds in sufficient quantities, but it is 
also necessary for it to have bulk. It must not be 
too concentrated. 



138 



How to Live a Ha^jpy Life 



The following" table gives the composition of 
foods used by Willis: 

Digestible Nutrients Pounds Per 100 Pounds of Feed 



Corn 

Oats 

Fodder 

Corn schucks 

Oat straw 

Sweet potatoes. . . 

Cotton seed 

Cotton seed meal. 
Cotton seed hulls 

Hay 

Peas 



Protein. 


Carbo- 
Hydts. 


■7.8 


64.8 


9.3 


48.3 


5.34 


43.34 


.96 


64.73 




44.56 


.90 


22.90 


9.83 


27.92 


.24 


32.32 



Fats. 



1.6 
4.2 
1.96 

.28 
.88 

16.88 

2.32 



Willis feeds his calves on a ratio of 1 to 4; his 
milk cows 1 to 5.4; his fattening animals 1 to 12; 
his stock when at rest 1 to 15; his stock at hard 
work 1 to 0. 

The ratio of a food stuff or of feed is found by 
dividing the weight of the fat-producing compound 
contained in it by the weight of the muscle-pro- 
ducing compound in it. Take the analysis of corn 
in the above table. It contains 1.6 pounds of fat 
in 100 pounds. Since fats produce 2 J times as 
much heat as carbohydrates, this must be multiplied 
by 2J, 1.6x21 = 3f. Adding 3f to 64.8 carbohy- 
drates we have 68.4 pounds of fat-producing com- 
pounds in 100 pounds of corn. Dividing 68.4 by 
7.8 we have 8.76 + . So the ratio of corn is 



Mis Feeding 139 

1 to 8.76+. The ratio of any other food stuff can 
be found as easily. 

His stock have good pastures to graze in at all 
seasons of the year, so they get all the green feed 
and all the bulk that they need in the fields. How- 
ever he gives them such feed as hay, shucks, and 
oat straw during several months of the year. The 
basis of the feed for the milk and beef cattle is 
cotton seed. He gives them about five pounds of 
cotton seed per day. The ratio of cotton seed is 
1 to 7. This ratio is a little too narrow for beef 
cattle and a little too wide for milk cows, so he 
gives bis milk cows cowpeas in the hull to make 
the ratio narrow enough. He also gives them sweet 
potatoes and such like as appetizers. 

His mules and horses are fed mostly on corn, oats, 
and fodder. They are given on an average of ten 
pounds of corn, ten pounds of oats, and ten pounds 
of fodder per day. When at real hard work they 
are fed less corn and more oats. During the win- 
ter months more corn and less oats and fodder are 
given. During the summer only about five pounds 
of corn are fed to them per day. When idle they 
run in the pasture and are fed on corn and fodder. 

He feeds his hogs and sheep a well-balanced 
ration at all times. That is, he gives them feed to 
make up for the deficiency of compounds in the 
feed they obtain in the pasture. The hogs and 



140 How to Lhie a Hajypy Life, 

sheep require very little feed as they are kept in 
the pasture at all times. The sheep are ^iven a few 
cotton seed during the winter and dry months of 
the summer. The hogs are given about one pound 
of corn apiece per day. 

Any man who knows how to add, subtract, mul- 
tiply, and divide can take the analysis of food stuffs 
and make a balanced ration. Take the feed that 
Willis gives his horses and mules on an average. 
We find that 100 pounds of corn contains 7.8 
pounds of protein. Then 10 pounds contains J^ 
of 7.8, or .78 pounds. The same is true of the dif- 
ferent compounds in the three foodstuffs. Solving 
we find: 

Protein. Carbo. Hydts. Fats. 

10 lbs. corn 78 6.48 16 

10 lbs. oats 93 4.83 42 

10 lbs. fodder 534 4.334 196 



Total 2.244 15.644 .776 

(. 776x21 )+15.644=17.636, the number of pounds 
of carbohydrates or fat-j)roducing compounds in 
the feed. Now since the ratio of a food stuff is 
found by dividing the carbohydrates and fats com- 
bined by the protein or muscle-producing com- 
pounds, we have 17.636^2.244=7.8+. Therefore 
the ratio of the feed is 1 to 7.8. 

The ratio can easily be made wider or narrower 
by giving less protein feed and more carbonaceous 



Hlfi Feeding 



141 



feed, or by giving less carbonaceous feed and more 
protein feed, as the case may demand. 

Every farmer should not only study this chapter, 
but he should also get books on the subject and 
study them. 





HIS BARN 



H 



IS barn is all under one shed. When he enters 
his barn he is not forced to leave it until he 
is throuofh feedino" all his stock. It is true that if 
fire burns his barn he will have nothinijf left. His 
stock and forage will all be gone. But hardly one 
barn in a thousand burns during the average man's 
life. So he can afford to take the risk. He cannot 
afford to waste his time by walking over a five-acre 
barnyard every time he feeds his stock. Life is too 
short to waste time. 

They have what are called " log rollings " and 
"house raisings" in Mississij)pi. That is the neigh- 
bors assist each other in clearinof their land of fallen 
timber and in building their houses. Willis cut 
the logs, hauled them home and removed the bark 
from them. He also had the boards, blocks, and 
everything else ready for the great day, — the 
house raising. On the appointed day the neigh- 
bors came from far and near. In two days the barn 
was completed. 
(142) 



His Barn 143 



DRAWING 



The main body of the building is constructed of 
pine logs about one foot in diameter. They are 
cheaper than lumber and make a great deal more 
durable building. It is covered with good heart 
pine boards. The roof is sufficiently steep to cause 
the boards to serve a long time. 

It is true that the winters are mild in Mississippi, 
l)ut there comes days and nights when all stock 
should be housed well. It costs very little money 
to build a barn that will last two or three genera- 
tions. The thousands of head of cattle that it will 
protect during that time will gain enough in size to 
pay for it a thousand times. The housing of farm 
products requires a building, and it is best to have 
a building that is sufficiently large to hold every- 
thing raised on the farm. 

It is unnecessary to describe the building. A 
careful study of the plan of the ground floor will 
show every department in the building except the 
upstairs. The second story is used for hay, fodder, 
grass, oats, and other crops of that kind. 

It is ten feet from the ground to the floor of the 
second story. A loaded wagon can be driven 
through the alleys and be unloaded in either of the 
rooms or in the second story. The second story 
has a door in the center of its floor that can be 



144 



How to Live a Happy Life 



HIS BARN 





stables 





Stables 



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His Barn 145 

opened whenever it is necessary to put anything in 
the second story. 

Willis never allows any man to smoke in his barn- 
yard and he never carries a torch into his barn; in- 
stead he uses two lard-oil lanterns. He trusts in 
Providence but he does not think that a sensible 
man will apply fire to powder and then trust in 
Providence to keep it from igniting. 

The barn is closed so that no man can enter it 
except through one of the double doors. Each of 
the four double doors has a combination lock on it 
and when the night comes the doors are all securely 
locked. Willis has no fear that any man will enter 
and take anything out of his barn at night. So he 
sleeps peacefully. 

10 







HIS BOOK-KEEPING 

WILLIS knows exactly what he is makino-. He 
not only knows what he is making on the 
whole but he knows what each department of his 
farm is making. He is not farming blindly, he 
keeps accounts with every department on his farm. 

It is true that but very few farmers keep accounts, 
they do not know what they are doing. They do 
not know whether they are losing or gaining. They 
do not know whether every department is losing or 
whether every department is gaining. They are 
acting imprudently in not keeping accounts. 

Every farmer should keep accounts. Farming is 
not a kind of business that a man can pursue succes- 
fully in the dark. 

Some crops pay a farmer and some do not, but 
how can he know which is which unless he keeps 
accounts? It is simply impossible. He will find 
out his mistake sometime, but it may be too late. 

The farmer who does not keep accounts may be 

a good neighbor, a moral man, and a good citizen, 

but he is not doing his whole duty to his God and 

to himself. He does not cultivate all the talents 

(146) 



iris Book-Keeping 147 

that God has given to him. He does not farm in a 
business-like way. He does not exalt his calling as 
other business men exalt theirs. He does not make 
the money that he would make if he knew just what 
he was doing. He cannot supply himself and his 
family with luxuries and comforts. He is in one 
sense a failure. He should use the lead pencil and 
paper. Muscle is not the only requisite to success- 
ful farming. 

Much unnecessary trouble and many lawsuits 
are caused by farmers not keeping accounts. Ac- 
counts that have been payed are presented for re- 
payment. Farmers pay for things that they never 
bought, — - merchants and all other business men 
keep accounts but farmers do not. When a farmer 
dies, no one knows just how his affairs are; men 
can collect accounts never made by him and they 
can collect accounts that were probably paid years 
before his death. All such wrong doing should be 
prevented, by following Willis's example. 

Willis keeps a note book in his pocket all the 
time and in it he writes a list of the things to be 
done. The book is divided into two parts, — in one 
part is a list of the things to be done soon, in the 
other part, a list of the things to be done in spare 
moments. By this means he does not overlook any- 
thing that needs to be done. Whenever he sees any- 
thing on his farm that needs to be done he makes a 



148 How to Live a Happy Life 

note of it in the proper place in his book. He does 
not tax his mind with trying to remember things, — 
paper and pencils are cheap. 

He has a memorandum of everything that has to 
be done, so that on a rainy day he has only to look 
over his little book in order to find something to do. 
In this way he gets the little odd jobs done with 
greater ease than he would without the use of his 
little book. Willis is thoroughly familiar with 
book-keeping, but he does not use any complicated 
system. He keeps a cash account and a separate 
account for each department. He did until this 
* year keep an account with each field. He will not 
do so any longer however. He will also stop keeping 
accounts with each department, for he understands 
his business so well that it has become unnecessary. 
He knows which branches pay best and he fully 
realizes the importance of reducing the cost of pro- 
duction as much as possible. However he will 
keep a cash account as long as he lives. 

The accounts which follow will show how he 
keeps his books as well as the profit on his farm in 
1899. 

ACCOUNTS 

The accounts are not itemized here as they are 
on his books. The butter account for each month 
is recorded as one sale in this account, but his book 



His Book- Keeping 149 

shows from whom he bought everything and to 
whom he made the most important sales. The ac- 
count shows to whom he paid every cent that went 
out of his pocket-book. 

He also keeps what he calls an exchange account. 
This account shows how many gallons of syrup, 
bushels of potatoes, and all other farm produce that 
he sold and "took out in trade." The account 
names every article received into the household for 
which produce instead of money was paid. Among 
the list of articles we find clothing, household goods, 
farm machines, and other things used on the farm. 
In fact he exchanges produce for nearly everything 
that he gets. The things that are paid cash for are 
usually bought direct from the factory. He is 
forced to pay out a great deal of money for farm 
laborers. 

The above cash account shows that he made a 
clear profit of $1,013. He has not failed to clear 
one thousand in five years. On the first of every 
.January he puts one thousand dollars in the bank. 
He obtains four per cent, interest on it. 

Reader, look over the account, and you will find 
that you can improve your condition by following 
the example set by Willis. Why not do so now? 



150 



Hoxc to Live a Happy Life 



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HIS CARE OF STOCK 

THE live stock owned by Willis are as well treated 
and as well cared for as the members of his 
own family. And they should be. They have 
served him faithfully. They have assisted him in 
making a comfortable home and in placing several 
thousand dollars in the bank. So it is his duty to 
make their lives pleasant for them. 

Breed is of great importance in handling stock, 
but feed and care are of much greater importance. 
A farmer who eni^fao-es in stock-breeding, I care 
not what kind of stock he has, will not succeed 
unless he gives he gives his stock proper care. A 
man cannot expect to get money for nothing. 

Willis never uses a whip or club among his 
stock. It makes no difference how badly wearied 
he becomes, he never abuses his stock. He says, 
" The devil never visits the man who abuses his 
stock; such a man belongs to the devil." If he 
rides ahorse or drives a cow to water, he does not 
try to force the animal to drink. He will not act 
foolishly under any conditions. He, like Job of 
(152) 



His Care of StocJc 153 

old, is a patient man. And his success on the farm 
is due largely to his kind treatment of the stock. 

He knows tliat an animal's body is composed 
largely of water, that eighty-seven per cent, of milk 
is water; so he gives his animals plenty of pure 
water to drink. He knows that it is a great sin for 
animals to be forced to drink muddy water or thirst. 
Live stock have tastes as well as human beings and 
should not be forced to drink water unfit for hu- 
mans. The farmer who does not furnish his stock 
with plenty of fresh water is far from being a model 
farmer. 

His pastures have shade in them for the cattle 
during the hottest part of the day in the summer 
time. So his stock does not suffer from standing 
all day long in the hot sun. In the winter his stock 
have good stalls and warm houses to remain in at 
night and during the coldest weather. They know 
nothing about remaining out in the cold rain or 
wind all day long with their backs humped up. 
They are kept warm and comfortable in their stalls 
and houses. If a farmer will not care for his stock 
for rio-hteousness' sake he should do so for his 
pocket-book's sake. 

The temperature of an animal's body should be 
kept up to about ninety-eight degrees. The heart 
is maintained by food being burned in the body. 
If the animal is exposed to cold the food will be 



154 How to Live a Happy Life 

burned faster to keep the heat of the body up to 
the normaL So we see that an animal exposed to 
cold requires more food than one kept in a warm 
stable. The average farmer does not seem to real- 
ize that it is a great deal cheaper to keep up the 
heat of the body by keeping the animals in a warm 
place than it is by feeding more. 

How seldom do we find a farmer who gives his 
stock plenty to eat ! But few stock know what it 
is to have plenty to eat. The stock are placed in 
pastures where they get suJBBcient grass for a month 
or two out of the year, and half starve the remainder 
of the year. No man who treats his stock in such 
a manner will ever get any profit out of them. It 
takes a certain amount of food to replace the dif- 
ferent parts of the body as they wear out. The 
milk, wool, and increase in size of an animal are 
made out of the food eaten in excess of the amount 
required to keep the body up to a normal condition. 
Animals cannot work, fatten, and give milk unless 
they are given more food than is necessary to keep 
the body in repair. 

" A curry-comb when well used is equal to half 
feed." This may not be quite true, but Willis acts 
as if he believed it. He has two or three good 
curry-combs and hair brushes. He curries and 
brushes his milk cows at least once a day; his 
horses and mules are curried and brushed twice a 



His Care of Stock 155 

day. And his cows, horses, and mules show what 
such treatment will do. 

Many times when at church, in town, or at some 
other place away from home, he is forced to leave 
his horses or mules out in the rain or cold. On 
that account he bought three good blankets with 
straps for his mules and horses. When they are 
left standiner in the cold or rain the blankets are 
put over them, and when exposed to the latter, 
three pieces of oilcloth are used in connection with 
the three blankets. He shows the same respect for 
their feelings as he does for his own. 

His wagon and plow harness exactly fit his mules. 
The trace chains do not rub the hair from their 
sides; and the back bands do not hurt their backs; 
the collars do not bruise their shoulders; nor do the 
bits tear their mouths. He is merciful to his stock, 
he knows that only the merciful will obtain mercy. 




HIS CARE OF FARM IMPLEMENTS 

THE implements used by Willis are labor saving 
and in most instances cost him a great deal 
of money. He says that it is nonsense to try to 
make farming profitable without labor-saving im- 
plements. Labor-saving machinery is now used in 
every branch of industry. Why should thousands 
of farmers continue to use the implements used by 
their great-grandfathers ? Human labor is the 
most costly thing used in producing crops, there- 
fore there should be no more used than is posi- 
tively necessary. 

The farmers who live near Willis say, " We are 
not able to buy good tools." They say, " We will 
wait until we save up the money to buy them 
with." They are in the same box with the farmers 
who are selling cotton for five cents when it costs 
them seven cents to produce it. He cannot afford 
to quit loosing money. So the average farmer says, 
" I cannot afford to break two acres of land per 
day instead of one ; or to cut five acres of grass 
instead of one-half. I will continue to be poor. 
(156) 



His Care of Farrn Innpleinenta 157 




158 How to Live a Happy Life 

I am satisfied with hard times. I cannot afford to 
better my condition." 

It is true that the average farmer cannot afford to 
use costly labor-saving implements. But why is it 
true ? Because he does not care for the imple- 
ments. He lets his tools remain out in the rain 




and sunshine from one year s end to another. The 
tools under such treatment will not last more than 
two or three years. Of course he cannot afford to 
spend several hundred dollars every two or three 
years for a new set of tools. If he does not care 
for his implements, he cannot afford to use them. 
If he does not use them he cannot afford to farm. 



His Care of Farm Implements 159 

A farmer will not be truly successful, I care not 
how he farms, if he cares not for the machinery of 
his farm. If he leaves his wagon, buggy, plow, or 
other farm tools out in the weather, it will take all 
the profit made on his farm to replace them. 




Willlis uses common sense; he keeps his tools 
in a tool house when he is not using them. lie 
does not believe in working hard for money to buy 
tools to decay in fence corners. His tools last 
four or five times as long as the average farmer's 
tools and are always in good running order. 



160 



Hoir to Live a Happy Life 




His Care of Farm Implements 161 

The saw cuts fast, the wagon is not a mule 
killer, and the mowing machine runs easily. This 
is the main reason why he can afford to have good 
tools. A scrub farmer should own serub stock and 
shabby tools. 

When Willis began to farm he did not have 
sufficient shelter to cover his wagon, buggy, roller, 
plow, and other tools. So he used a stable for his 
plows until he could build a tool house. That he 
did as soon as possible. The following drawing 
shows the ground plan. 

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The roof is ten feet high in front and seven feet 
high in back. The ground is used for a floor. 
The different tool rooms have swinging doors. 
II 



162 Hov^ to Live a Happy Life 




HU Care of Farm Implements 163 

The harness and repair rooms have average-sized 
doors. 




Willis spends many hours in the repair rooms. 
He keeps a harness -repair outfit. He makes his 
bridles, back bands, and light harness. He also 



1(54 Jrlow to Lwe a Happy I^ife 

repairs the shoes for the family and does other 
little repair work. He knows that a stitch in time 
saves nine, so he keeps his harness, saddles, bridles, 
etc., in good shape. 

This tool house is so handy that it is as easy for 
Willis to put his tools away as it is for him to 
leave them out. The house is so constructed that 
it is not necessary to move a dozen things in order 
to get one out. In this house the tools can all be 
kept snugly where they will be clean and unex- 
posed to the weather. 

Willis believes that every word in the Bible is 
true. He tries to follow its teachings but he does 
not obey one command. He does not lend his 
tools to every man who wants to borrow them. 
He did when he began farming. He was young 
and green then but he is a wiser man to-day. The 
farmers who lived near him were always wanting 
to try his plows, cultivators, saws, harrows, mowing 
machine, and other tools. He turned none away 
until he saw that his doom would soon be sealed. 
His tools were always away from home or broken ; 
when he needed an improved tool he was forced to 
go to his neighbors after some of his own. People 
seldom return borrowed tools. 

He has ceased to lend his tools ; his tools are no 
longer left out of doors for days and nights and 
banged around by men who are too ignorant to 



His Care of Farm Implements 165 

appreciate them. Some of his neighbors think it is 
real mean of him not to furnish them with tools to 
use on their farms. They seem to think that he 
should assist them to make a living. Willis knows 
that he must provide for his own household. So 
he does not lend his implements; he takes care of 
his own. 





- HIS POLITICS ^ 

WILLIS lias never failed to cast a vote on elec- 
tion day since he was twenty-one years old. 
Other than that he has taken but little part in 
politics. 

The following- talk made before an audience of 
farmers during that memorable campaign of 1890, 
expresses his views on the main questions before 
the country: — 

Fellow Farmers; -7- It is with pleasure that I 
respond to your call to make a few remarks on the 
political questions now agitating our people. 

On the third of November we will be called 
upon to vote either for William J. Bryan or 
William McKinley for the president of the United 
States. Therefore it is well for us who feed the 
Nation to study this question that we may vote in- 
telligently. On that account we have for to-day 
laid aside the plow and the hoe and assembled here. 

It is true that farmers have no business in poli- 
tics, that they should not hold political meetings, 
according to the ideas of some people. But how- 
dee) 



His rollttai 167 

ever others may think of it, I claim that farmers of 
all men should vote. They form the only class of 
any importance that wants honest legislation. They 
demand nothing but their rights. They have no 
lobbyists at the National capital to buy the votes 
of dishonest men. Consequently, it is necessary 
for them to cast their votes for the right kind of 
men. We are told that our interests are being 
looked after. And when the farmers complain of 
hard times the statement is made by some man who 
knows nothing about the facts in the case, that the 
farmers are in as good a condition financially as they 
were twenty-five or thirty years ago. Let us see 
about that statement. 

Since 1873 the price of farm products has been 
steadily decreasing. We now get on an average 
hardly half what we did then. Why is this true ? 
The lawmakers tell us that the law of supply and 
demand has caused the fall in prices. 

If I can explode anything, it is the "over pro- 
duction theory." Our main money crop is cotton, 
so I will discuss that first. Cotton can be traced 
from its production to its consumption better than 
anything else. Every pound of cotton that is pro- 
duced goes into the market and affects the price. 
The production 'has greatly increased since 1873, 
but the demand has also greatly increased, so that 
the supply as compared with the demand is to-day 



168 How to Live a Happy Life 

less than it was in 1873. The surplus cotton in the 
factories is less now than it was in 1873. The price 
of cotton in 1873 was 16 cents per pound. The 
present price is about 6 cents per pound. According 
to the law of supply and demand the price should 
be at least 20 cents per pound. 

Now let us take wheat. The price of wheat in 
1873 was $1.24, the present price is about 70 cents. 
The supply has doubled, but the population has also 
doubled, so there is no change in the relation of 
supply and demand at home. The foreign demand 
has increased, however, and it is more than twice 
as much as it was in 1873. Therefore the price of 
wheat should be at least $1.50 per bushel. 

I could go on and discuss many other products 
and show that what is true of cotton and wheat is 
also true of most, if not all, of the others, but I 
think I have explained the subject enough, or to 
such an extent, that any ten-year-old boy that 
thinks at all on the subject will call any lawmaker 
a fool who talks about the law of supply and de- 
mand being the cause of the decrease in prices of 
farm products. 

We are also told, " The price of every article 
that we use has fallen in as great a proportion as 
those that we produce." While that statement is 
not strictly true, I will admit it. But the farmer 
is called upon to pay taxes, doctors' bills, church 



His Politics 169 

• 

bills, and other bills that are larger than they were 
in 1873. These are the main bills that call for the 
farmers' cash. 

We have shown that the farmers of this country 
do not get half as much for their produce as they 
did in 1873. But how is it with those that follow 
other pursuits? The wage earning employees in 
the mill, factory, and workshop received on an 
average of |1.25 per day in 1873. The wages paid 
to them have increased forty per cent, since 1873. 
The farmers' wages have been decreased over one 
hundred per cent. What is true of the factory 
hands is also true of lawyers, doctors, preachers, and 
other consumers. Therefore we see that the farmer 
is losing ground in this country. 

I will now discuss two or three questions that if 
solved aright will restore to the farmers of this 
country the prosperity that they enjoyed in days 
past and gone. 

First, I will discuss the " Tariff for revenue vs. 
the tariff for protection." 

The main products of this country are cotton, 
corn, wheat, and live stock. Now do the farmers 
get any better prices for these products under the 
protective tariff then they did under the revenue 
tariff ? They do not. Are they not forced to pay 
more for wheat they buy under the protective tariff 
than they were under the revenue tariff ? They pay 



170 How to Live a Hajypy Life, 

• 

on an average about fifty per cent. more. So we 
see that the way is so plain that a wayfaring man 
cannot err when he goes to vote. 

I will next discuss Bimetallism vs. Monometallism. 
Those that believe in bimetallism claim that we 
need more basic money in circulation ; that the 
amount of money in circulation affects the prices 
of commodities. Those who believe in monomet- 
allism claim that there is sufficient money in circu- 
lation; that the prices of commodities is regulated 
entirely by the law of supply and demand for com- 
modities. Let us examine first the claims of the 
bimetallists. There is not a single instance in the 
history of the whole world where there has been 
suffering and hardship on account of having too 
much money in circulation ; but we all know of the 
times of distress on account of the scarcity of money. 
The working people were suffering for the neces- 
sities of life in the United States of Columbia in 
1885, and a law was passed putting gold and silver 
on a parity. What was the result? The products 
of the farm rose 100 per cent, or more and pros- 
perity was restored. And immediately after the 
discovery of gold in California and Australia the 
products of the farm rose in price, on average, 25 
per cent. So we see that the claims of the bimet- 
allists are just. 

Let us consider the claims of the monometallists. 



His Politics 171 

I have shown you that the law of supply and de- 
mand does not account for the fall in price of farm 
products. I have shown you that according to this 
law the price of farm products should be higher 
than it was in 1873. I have shown you by history 
that the amount of money in circulation does have 
an effect on the prices of farm products, so the 
claims of the monometallists are false. 

We must admit that the price of farm products 
will rise if bimetallism becomes a law in the coun- 
try. But we are told that every article that the 
farmer buys will increase in value just as fast as the 
articles he produces increase in value. That is also 
false. The law will not permit the doctor or rail- 
road to charge any more; taxes and postage bills 
will not be any greater; and the preachers wdll not 
charge any more for their preaching. His farm im- 
plements will not cost one cent more than they do 
now. Because the manufacturers now charge every 
cent for them that the protective tariff will allow. 

Therefore every farmer should be a bimetallist, 
or what is known as " a free silver man." 

I will now discuss government ownership of 
railroads, telegraph, and telephone systems, and of 
the express. In nearly every country in Europe 
the government owns these enterprises. 

In Germany the roads are owned by the gov- 
ernment. What is the result ? Passengers can 



172 Hoio to Live a Happy Life 

ride four miles for one cent, and freight rates are 
in proportion. Yet the government's net profits 
on these roads are $125,000,000 per year. 

In Hungary, the government owns all the rail- 
roads. The passenger rates are half a cent a mile, 
the freight rates not as high as they are in 
Germany. The railroad employees are paid such 
wages that strikes are unknown. The government 
is making thousands of dollars per year. Switzer- 
land has the same sys'tem as Germany and it pays 
the country well. 

Belgium bought its railroads, reduced the fare 
to one cent a mile, doubled the wages of the em- 
ployees and is yet making money. 

In India, Australia, New Zealand, and other 
countries the same is true. Why should not the 
United States do likewise ? 

Under the present system the rich and influential 
people are given free passage on the railroads but 
the farmer is forced to pay four or five times as 
much as the people of other countries. 

The price of the farmer's products is governed 
largely by the freight rates. Under the present 
system, he is charged four or five times as much as 
the wealthy men of this country. 

What I have said of the government ownership 
of railroads is true of the government ownership 
of the telegraph, telephone, and express systems. 



His Politics 173 

Then should not every farmer vote for the gov- 
ernment ownership of these things ? Certainly. 

Now fellow farmers, I have tried to show you 
how we should vote. I will say that I am not a 
partisan and never will be. I will in every case 
study the platforms of the different parties and 
vote that ticket which shall be for the party that 
looks after my interests. 

After studying the Democratic, Republican, and 
Po>pulites platforms, I have found that the Demo- 
cratic and Populites platforms are for the interests 
of the farmers of this country. Therefore on the 
third of next November, I will cast a vote for 
William J. Bryan for President. 



A SHORT SERMON 

I INHERITED a tendency to preach, and I have 
tried very hard indeed to keep from preaching. 
Ministers of the Gospel are called to preach, and 
therefore it is not my duty to preach Scriptural 
sermons, but I will preach an agricultural sermon to 
the readers of this little volume. My text will be 
found in Hebrews 12: 1. It reads as follows: 
" Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which 
does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience 
the race that is set before us." 

The text informs us that we are burdened with 
weiirhts and that we are beset with sins. The 
farmer should lay aside the weights and the sins 
which does so easily beset him. The victory will 
be won by the farmer who lays aside the weights 
carried by the average farmer, and who ceases to 
commit the sins committed by him. 

Now, let us discuss the text under the heads: 
1st, weights — 2d, sins. The average farmer has 
many heavy weights hanging to him but I will 
only discuss the three which I consider the most 
important. 
(174) 



A Short /Sermon 175 

The man who is ignorant of the principles upon 
which success in his calling is founded has a heavy 
weight hanging to him. He may be a learned 
man in the other professions but he must know all 
about his own if he would succeed. The farmer 
must know something about the science of agri- 
culture if he would succeed on his farm. The day 
for ignorant men has passed. So every farmer 
should lay aside the weight of ignorance. Take 
good agricultural journals, get the bulletins issued 
by the State and United States experiment stations, 
attend farmers' institutes and gain information in 
many other ways and the weight of ignorance will 
soon disappear. 

No man can farm successfully on poor land. 
But few men can buy fertile land to farm on. 
Nearly every farmer must hang the weight of poor 
land around his neck. But he can easily lay it 
aside. Read the chapters on Tillage, Rotation of 
Crops, Cowpeas, and Fertilizers and you will find 
out how Willis laid this weight aside. You can do 
likewise. 

The scrub things have passed. The word scrub 
in connection with stock makes a successful breeder 
shudder. Well does he remember the many pov- 
erty stricken farmers who kept scrub stock during 
the dark ages of agriculture. This weight has 
been holding farmers down to poverty since Adam 



176 Hoic to Live a Happy Life 

and Eve kept the Garden, and there is no reason 
however w^hy farmers should act so unwisely. They 
should give heed to the words which they hear. 

I consider under-production the greatest sin a 
farmer can be guilty of. The farmer who does 
not provide for his family is despised in this world 
and will burn in the next. He is w^orse than an 
infidel. A man must make use of the talents which 
God has entrusted to him. If he does not gain 
other talents he will be cast into the pit where 
there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. Every 
farmer can follow the example set by Willis. By 
so doing the acre that formerly produced one -third 
of a bale of cotton will be made to grow one 
whole bale ; prosperity will reign in the home 
instead of poverty ; the family will be happy 
instead of miserable. 

The farmer should not always be buying, — I use 
the word buying in the sense of the exchange of 
money for something else. He should exchange 
surplus farm produce for a great many of the things 
that are needed on the farm. Many farmers go to 
town with an empty wagon and return with a full 
wagon, — such men will soon lose the home which 
their fathers gave to them. Then they will have to 
go to live at a sawmill where they will have to v^ork 
like slaves. The farmers who follow the example 
of Willis will always have happy homes. 



A /Short Sermon 177 

Those who till the st)il should have good tools to 
till it with. It is true that a forked limb was used 
to plow with in days past and gone, but no sane 
man attempts such foolishness to-day. The vilest 
sinner uses implements with which he can do many 
times as much work as he can with a forked limb. 
But there is as much difference in the results se- 
cured by Willis and those secured by the average 
farmer as there is difference between the results 
obtained by the average farmer and those of the 
men who used forked limbs. The average farmer 
to-day is just about half way on the road of pro- 
gress from the forked limb to the latest riding 
plow. He should continue to grow in the knowl- 
edge and use of his farm implements. A man can- 
not be converted until he is made aware of his sins. 
The averaofe farmer will never be converted until he 
is shown the sinfulness of the implements he is now 
using. 

The next great sin that I will mention is " rob- 
bing the soil." The soil was given to man in a fer- 
tile condition, but he has starved millions of acres 
of it to death. He has robbed it as the thief robs 
a bank. He has put it in such a condition that it 
will not yield bread for the inhabitants of the earth. 
He has robbed the soil that God has entrusted to 
him instead of enriching it. The iniquity of the 
fathers will be visited upon the children unto the 

12 



178 Hov") to Live a Happy Life 

third and fourth generation.* Willis keeps his soil 
fat and the soil keeps Willis fat. 

Willis treats his stock as he desires to be treated 
by the world. He does not abuse them, and the 
sparing of the rod does not spoil them. He furn- 
ishes them with warm stables so that they do not 
suffer from the cold winds. They sleep as comfort- 
ably in their warm stables as Willis does in his bed. 
They never suffer for something to eat. All day 
long they stand knee deep in grass, and at night 
their troughs are filled with cotton seed and hay. 
Farmers should treat their stock as Willis treats his. 
By so doing they will lay aside the sins that do so 
easily beset them. 

In conclusion, let me say, keep ever in mind the 
words of the text. 




A WORD TO YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN 

WILLIS did hard studying on the subject of " The 
Choice of a Profession." He also wrote an 
excellent composition on that subject. His friends 
advised him to be a doctor or a lawyer, but he de- 
cided that question for himself. He decided to be 
a farmer. He has never regretted that decision. 
He never will. 

The reason why most of the intelligent men of 
this country leave the farm is that they desire to 
be honored. They do not think that a man who 
farms will ever.be honored. They judge from the 
amount of honor bestowed upon the average farmer. 
But the average farmer is a failure, and no man who 
fails in his line of business is ever honored. The 
lawyer who knows nothing about law will never 
succeed as a lawyer. He will never be honored. 
The farmer who knows nothing about the science 
of agriculture will never succeed, and he will never 
be honored. The successful men in any calling are 
honored. 

Willis is one of the most highly -honored men in 
Mississippi. He is a well-educated man, a good 

(179) 



180 Hovi to Live a Happy Life 

writer, and an eloquent speaker. He honors his 
profession. He knows that a profession is consid- 
ered honorable because honorable men follow it. 
He is doing what he can to make farming the most 
honorable profession followed by man. Willis is 
an honor to his profession and he is honored. 

Hundreds of other young men leave the farm be- 
cause there is but little chance of ever becoming 
rich in farming. I will admit that there is no chance 
to accumulate a fortune on a farm, so the young 
man who desires to be a millionaire should never 
be a farmer. But few farmers ever accumulate as 
much as |50,000. Farming is necessarily a small 
business. It cannot be spread out so that thousands 
of acres will be under cultivation. "The farmer 
must do a thing himself, or have his shadow fall on 
the man who does it, if he wants to succeed." A 
man cannot cultivate a large farm nor can his 
shadow fall on every part of it at one time. There- 
fore the ideal farm is a small one. Profits are small 
on such a small business, but the farmer is happy. 

Why should a man work for wealth and property 
to leave behind him when he dies ? A good living 
is all that any man can get out of this world. The 
farmer can get a better living and live a happier 
life than any other professional man. He cannot 
hoard up banks of gold, but he and his family can 
have a comfortable home, plenty to eat, and good 



A Word to Young Men and Wome^i 181 

clothing to wear. Young man and young lady, 
what more do you want ? 

The farmer breathes pure air; he is not compelled 
to breathe the contaminated air of the cities. The 
contagious diseases that spread in the cities never 
affect him. In fact, he is a healthy man. He enjoys 
his meals and sleeps sweetly at night. He raises a 
healthy family. A healthy body means a healthy 
brain. Brainy men and women are needed. 

The farmer is his own boss. He can work as he 
pleases, talk as he pleases, and vote as he pleases. 
It makes no difference what opinion he expresses, 
his land will yield just the same. He is not a slave 
like the thousands of poor laborers, who live in the 
cities. 

He can spend much more time with his family 
than the merchant, banker, doctor, or lawyer. He 
is not tied up. He can take much more time for 
pleasure than the other professional men. He is not 
rushed as they are. He can take time to enjoy life. 

It does not cost much to live on a farm. Nearly 
every food stuff used is grown. Surplus farm pro- 
ducts are exchanged for clothing, etc. There is no 
house rent, no gas, no water, nor no fuel bills to 
settle. Taxes do not amount to much. The expense 
of keeping a horse for driving is very slight. In 
fact, $500 on a farm will go as far as $2,000 in a 
city. 



182 How to Live a Happy Life 

Now I will say to the young ladies, I do not 
think that you can do better than to marry a young 
farmer who is well educated. I do not think that 
you can spend your lives in a better way than in 
making happy homes for successful farmers. Go 
into partnership with a young man who is farming 
on the platform adopted by Mary and Willis and 
you will never regret your act. 





PARTING WORDS 

READER, I have given you a few facts in regard 
to the life and farming of Willis. I have not 
discussed hundreds of subjects that I should have 
discussed. I have mentioned only a few of what I 
considered the most important facts under the sub- 
ject being discussed. It would require volumes 
and volumes to hold a detailed account of the work 
of this model farmer. 

I am inclined to believe that a better day will 
soon dawn upon the agricultural class of this coun- 
try if they will only follow the example set by Wil- 
lis. It is true that if every farmer should do as 
Willis does farmers would in many respects be no 
better off. There would be no demand for the 
great amount of produce. But every farmer will 
not do as Willis is doing. Not one reader of this 
sketch in one thousand will set out on the right 
road and stick to it until the desired end is accom- 
plished. So no farmer may be afraid to do the right 
thinsr, for he will have few rivals. Do not fear to 
grow twice as much per acre as you are now grow- 

(183) 



184 Ho'ii3 to Live a Happy Life 

ing. You will never regret it. By doing so, hard 
times will soon bid you adieu. 

It is true that I have advised you to do your 
best. Now you may think that I have not done my 
best in writing this little book. But reader you are 
mistaken. I had the evenings of only three months 
to spare. I have worked hard all day and wielded 
the pen at night long after your eyes were closed 
in sleep. I could have done better if I could have 
spent my whole time for a year on it; but it was 
impossible. 

The work is not satisfactory to me but I trust 
that the reader will remember the conditions under 
which it was written and be kind enough to over- 
look the many blunders. 

Wishing every reader a long and truly successful 
life, 

I am your true friend, 

G. H. Alfoed. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




